Love and Luck
by M.F.K.Fisher
Summary: "Yi Jeong had been away from Soeul for four years, and in those four years, Ga Eul had learned to live without him." Yi Jeong returns home to some surprises. Starting with T and ending in M.
1. Chapter 1 - Welcome Home

Chapter 1 – Welcome Home

He was different now than four years ago. His hair had grown long, wavy and unkempt and nearly shoulder length. He wore it back, tied up and out of the way, and it made Ga Eul think that his face looked like a blade, like naked steel. His eyes were still the same, the same troubled look even as the corners would lift up when he winked. He was saying something now, but she wasn't listening. She narrowed her eyes and watched his mouth move. Yi Jeong had been away from Soeul for four years, and in those four years, Ga Eul had learned to live without him.

"Sunbae," she smiled, her lips peeling back to reveal her sweet mouth, "how does it feel to be back?"

He stretched like a lazy cat and she noticed how thin he had become. There wasn't the boyish softness that used to occupy his body-gone were the rich jackets, polished shirts, silky scarves and ties. Yi Jeong was a changed man. Here he was, sitting across from her at a smoky bar and looking for all the world like a cat that had finished sunning itself and was interested in her again. She could still see the corded tension in his neck.

"Not much has changed here." He rolled up the sleeves of the hoodie he was wearing. Ga Eul felt a strange jar of familiarity. Yi Jeong always worked in his studio with his sleeves rolled; years before, he preferred the turn of the century bartender looks; armband included. She smiled a little at the memory. They were stamping a giant pile of clay together with their feet, warming the cold mass with their bodies. She tripped and he caught her. She remembers catching her breath, his arms became rigid, and he leaned in close-

"What are you thinking about?" His slow lazy smile began unevenly. Ga Eul smiled back serenely.

"That night, in the studio. When you almost kissed me."

"I still regret that I didn't." He took a sip of his soju and continued to smirk from across the table.

Ga Eul looked down at her phone, Anders' name flashed across the screen. She turned the phone off. She smoothed down her skirt before she spoke again.

"It was probably best that you didn't, Sunbae." She leveled her eyes at him. She thought she saw a hint of surprise, but Yi Jeong was too good at this to reveal any of his cards.

"You liked me. You didn't want to kiss me?" He leaned forward.

Ga Eul was drawn in to his eyes. His eyes, she always felt, were bottomless pits of sorrow. Hungry for love, hungry for pleasure, and now they were hungry for her. She swallowed and gazed at her nail bed, which were flushed and pink.

"I did. But Yi Jeong-shi, I was such a kid then. My head was full of silly notions. I hope you can see that I've grown up now." She cheerily laughed, "Tell me about Sweden?"

Yi Jeong frowned, this time visible to everyone. This Ga Eul was so different than the one he remembered leaving four years ago. That girl was fiery and blunt, without a single pretense of feminine wiles. The girl in front of him was the same girl, but somehow washed out. Somehow, a little dimmer than his memory. His mouth twisted. Maybe loving him gives every woman the same side effects. A little less of themselves after he was through with them.

He was no angel in Sweden. There were women. Scores and scores of blondes and brunettes. They liked him. He was exotic and tall, something different than the line up of Alexander Skarsgaard look alikes to which they were accustomed. A different option on the buffet. Yi Jeong had never had trouble getting women. He spoke his soft, accented Swedish and Rika or Sonya would swoon into his car by the end of the night. Swedish men always waited until they were almost too plastered to talk. Yi Jeong knew it was language, not puerile interests that moved women from disinterested to enflamed in the space of a few minutes.

He shifted uncomfortably and settled his shoulders. His plan was going to absolute shit. He thought that by Ga Eul's armor might be up. After all, he had been away for four years with no contact. There was no reason to bring up the promise he had kept-that he would seek her out first when he returned. The fulfillment of that promise laid between them silently. He wanted to nudge it towards her, for her to acknowledge that he had done what he said all those years ago. Instead, Ga Eul smiled at him without happiness, asked him questions without listening, and she looked past him to where the entrance of the bar was.

"Ga Eul. When those children said that your boyfriend was in Sweden, what did that mean? Have you been telling them about me?" He saw a weakness and began drilling his gaze into her.

Ga Eul gave a short laugh. Not the reaction he was expecting.

"Oh, that's Anders. We met about a year ago when I was Sweden."

Yi Jeong felt like the floor had dropped out underneath his chair. His plan wasn't falling apart, it didn't even exist in the right universe.

"You were in Sweden?" He could feel his jaw slackening, but he quickly reigned himself back. She had already surprised him twice today, now was not the time to be soft.

"Before I graduated, I was researching my thesis on childhood education." She blushed, "Sunbae, I was so lucky. I got this grant to go study abroad for two weeks, and I did." She said simply. "That's why I asked you about Sweden. I liked it so much there."

"You were in Sweden, a year ago." He let the meaning sink into his alcohol addled brain. That means, she had come to Sweden. To see him. Or maybe it was really for school. Whatever reasons there was, she had come to Sweden and decided not to find him.

"Near Göteborg, the university? That's how I met Anders. He was returning for vacation at home." She smiled to herself at the memory. The look of contentment on Ga Eul's face galled Yi Jeong. He hated her. He hated how she had changed. Her smile wasn't for him anymore. They were for some unknown blonde giant. He sullenly sneered, but Ga Eul didn't see his bitter expression. She was smiling at the entrance of the door.

"Anders!" She waved enthusiastically.

Yi Jeong choked on his drink and sprayed across the table. The thick headed country girl had thought it was a good idea to bring her boyfriend here? To meet him?

"Aish Sunbae!" Ga Eul had just stood up in time to avoid his accident. She took a napkin and wiped herself down carefully. Just like a good girl, Yi Jeong thought as she grabbed a stack from another table and blotted it down.

Yi Jeong almost knocked the table off its legs when he stood to turn. He wanted to tower over whoever the hell Anders was. And to Yi Jeong's great joy, he did.

"Anders, this is my friend Yi Jeong." Yi Jeong barely heard her voice but extended his hand and nearly mangled Anders'.

"So Yi Jeong-shi, it's great to finally meet you!" To Anders' credit, he didn't flinch at Yi Jeong's hostile handshake. Yi Jeong wanted to spit in his face, but instead his face slid into its usual mask. This Anders was nothing to be feared. He was short, well not short, but shorter than Yi Jeong. He had crop of curly brown hair and intense green eyes. Anders leaned down and kissed Ga Eul who was looking expectantly between them.

"Sunbae!" She playfully swatted at him. "Stop."

Anders actually blushed. Yi Jeong was pissed at this sincere son-of-a-bitch.

"Ga Eul, I'm so sorry. I just got back from Sweden and I always have trouble transitioning." Anders bowed in apology. Yi Jeong grounded his teeth, this SOB also happened to speak perfect Korean.

"Yi Jeong, I'm so glad to finally meet you." Anders shook his hand again.

"Why is that?" Ji Yeong narrowed his eyes at the smaller man.

"Because, you're the reason that I met Ga Eul in Sweden."


	2. Chapter 2 - Blossom Cup

_Previously, in Chapter 1: Yi Jeong has returned to Korea from Sweden and met Ga Eul's new boyfriend._

Chapter 2 - Blossom Cup

Yi Jeong could feel a headache coming like a train barreling through the underground tunnel. He clutched his head and winced.

"Sunbae!" Ga Eul held his face as he slowly opened his eyes again. The cool pressure of her fingers pulled the headache out of high tide.

"Yi Jeong," she sounded worried. Well, that was good. At least she was still cared. He would take whatever scraps he could get. "You must be jet lagged. And you haven't eaten." Ga Eul dropped her hand.

"Here Ga Eul, you take his other side." Anders was speaking. All Yi Jeong could hear was the rushing of furious blood in his temples. He wanted to smash something. Something delicate and beautiful. His arms suddenly landed around Ga Eul's shoulders. She peered from under his bicep and smiled. She nudged him slightly forward with her slight frame.

"Sunbae, it's good that you're back in Soeul now." She and Anders supported his weight between them and slowly made an odd threesome towards the door. Yi Jeong snorted. This was not the way he imagined the night; being carried out by Ga Eul's boyfriend into the night.

The night air in September was bracing. He felt his head beginning to clear as Ga Eul and Anders laughed at some private joke. Finally, a taxi pulled in front of the bar. Yi Jeong felt like he was being supported by a band of merry elves. If elves were in the habit of stealing his girl from under his nose.

Ga Eul slide over in the taxi and reached to pull him in. This was looking promising, Yi Jeong thought. He could still feel her cool hands on his hot face. He looked at her in the dim taxi light.

"Sunbae," she murmured. God, how he missed her voice. It's perfect cadence of mellow valleys and diphthongs that were particular to her. She was looking at him the way she used to. He was certain of it. She wasn't lost yet. "I'm glad you're back." Her eye fluttered under his scrutiny.

"Are you really?" He grabbed her hand as she turned away to reach for the taxi door.

"Of course." Her eyes darted over his face for a moment. "I missed my friend." Ga Eul released her hand from his and jumped out of the cab. He turned back in his seat to look her figure as the cab pulled away. He heard her faint yell, "Sunbae, get some sleep!"

Ga Eul turned to Anders and smiled brightly into the night. He took a furtive glance around the empty street and kissed her softly on the tip of her nose.

"Your friend seems very nice, aein."

"He barely talked. You don't have to like him." Anders' pupils were so wide, with a ring of clover green. She loved his eyes, they calmed her like nothing else.

Ga Eul felt warmth spread through her chest as she looked at her boyfriend. He was dear to her. Especially because he found her when she lost all hope. Anders came from an old shipping family in Stockholm, but he looked too gentle to do the hardline business his father demanded. Anders was sent away to the Phillips Exter as soon as his father decided that the soft spoken boy needed a backbone that Anders' gentle mother would stifle. For four lonely years in America, Anders' best friend in boarding school was Korean and the reason that he had come to study in Seoul.

"What shall we do now, Ga Eul?" Anders took advantage of the empty street and whispered quietly in her ear, his arms tightening around her.

"I have to go home." She pouted. The intended effect made Anders laugh. She slipped her smaller hand in his gloved fingers and she bumped into his side good naturedly as they walked through Kangnam.

"You never come here." Anders observed.

"I used to. In high school. Jan Di's boyfriend, I mean fiancee, would drag her to all these events here." She picked at her sleeve absent mindedly. She like the peace that Anders always bought her. He was her rock when she felt shaken by the force of nature that was Yi Jeong. She felt more than ever, that a year ago, she had made the right decision to let Yi Jeong go. Ga Eul clutched Anders' fingers a little tighter.

"Jun Pyo loves Jan Di a lot."

"Yeah, he does. It's a little scary, Anders-ah." Ga Eul looked at him while he thoughtfully chewed the inside of his cheek.

"Do you want that? Scary love?" Anders moved his hand from hers and slung it across her shoulder. They passed by an old club. Ga Eul recognized it instantly. It was where her first terrible boyfriend had been fooling around with his new squeeze, in her direct line of sight. Ga Eul remember the deep humiliation and anger of that moment. Hearing those ugly words from the man that she wasn't even sure she liked. She remember how Yi Jeong had found her sobbing at the curbside, her heart freshly trodden. He had tried to flirt her out of her crying jag, but it only made it worse. When passerby gave him dirty looks for making the pretty girl on the sidewalk cry, Yi Jeong threw his hands helplessly. Ga Eul almost smiled at the memory. That was the beginning.

"No, Anders. I don't want that. I like what we have. You understand me and I understand you. We don't blow things out of control." She sighed with exasperation. "Jan Di and Jun Pyo have a dysfunctional relationship."

Anders laughed and Ga Eul realized that they were already in front of her home. The lights of the living room were still on, meaning that her mother was waiting. Anders stood behind her as she opened the door. Ga Eul saw her mother immediately rise from the sofa.

"Omoni," Anders waved enthusiastically. Ga Eul was always surprised by how much her mother liked Anders. She thought that parents looked at foreigners like aliens peering at specimens. But her mother like Anders. She always told Anders that he looked like the guy from Entourage, but it was good that he wasn't a dirty playboy like that character.

"Stellen Anders, come in!" Ga Eul's mother waved him in enthusiastically. "Ga Eul, go make some tea!"

Her mother beamed at the couple while Ga Eul went into the kitchen. She could over hear scrapes of their conversation. Anders was telling her mother about his work at Soeul University, how his graduate studies in secondary language education were moving quickly. Anders was in the last year of his Ph.D. Ga Eul frowned a little. They hadn't talked about what would happen after he got his doctorate. He never seemed to want to discuss it for at length. Ga Eul had brushed off the little worry moth flapping its wings at the corners of her mind. Anders was perfect in every other way. As she searched for the tea cups, her hands dove into the cabinet and she withdrew a cup shaped like chrysanthemum blossom. It was impractical, over wrought, and beautiful. She closed her hands around the single cup and felt the soft edges. She should have returned it before Yi Jeong was due back from Sweden. She hadn't. She would have to.

-

Chapter 3 Preview - The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Jan Di's eyes were wide. That wasn't surprise, a day didn't go back when Jan Di wasn't surprised by something. Ga Eul sighed.

"You introduced him to Anders? Why would you do that?" Jan Di almost slapped herself on the forehead.

"I didn't mean to. Anders was picking me up from work and he just showed up!" Ga Eul applied the lotion sample to the back of her hand. She was splurging on Jan Di at Etude since her best friend still refused to let her chaebol boyfriend buy her girly things. "I was shocked, Jan Di! You should see him. He looks so different." Ga Eul grumbled, "but he acted the same."

"Ga Eul," Jan Di grabbed her friend's hand, "we are talking about Yi Jeong here right? The guy who said he'd return for you after he was done with his studies in Sweden? The same guy you waited for three years until you met Anders?"

A/N: Thank you for reading. I would like to collect more reviews for this story. If I can get more than 10 reviews for this chapter, I will post chapter 4 early next week.


	3. Chapter 3 - The More Things Change

**Chapter 3 - The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same**

Jan Di's eyes were wide. That wasn't a surprise, a day didn't go by when Jan Di wasn't surprised by something. Ga Eul sighed.

"You introduced him to Anders? Why would you do that?" Jan Di almost slapped herself on the forehead.

"I didn't mean to." Ga Eul rolled her eyes. "Anders was picking me up from work and he just showed up!" Ga Eul applied the lotion sample to the back of her hand. She was splurging on Jan Di at Etude since her best friend still refused to let her chaebol boyfriend indulge her in girly things. "I was shocked, Jan Di! You should see him. He looks so different." Ga Eul grumbled, "but he acted the same."

"Ga Eul," Jan Di grabbed her friend's hand, "Yi Jeong said that he'd return for you after he was done with his studies in Sweden. You didn't talk about that? What about Anders?"

"Nothing's changed. Yi Jeong's just back." Ga Eul kept her voice level.

Jan Di looked at the little frown line in her friend's face. Ga Eul had met Yi Jeong in the middle of Jan Di's whirlwind romance with her now fiancee, Jun Pyo. In the middle of family Kang drama and her drama with Jun Pyo's best friend, Ji Hoo, she barely paid attention to the crush that Ga Eul was nursing for Yi Jeong. Jan Di mused as she played with a row of shiny lipstick. She thought that her best friend was too smart to get involved with the likes of Yi Jeong. Even though Ga Eul had explained the whole Eun Jae situation to her, she thought the entire relationship was wrapped in warning signs. Jan Di sighed. It was so easy to be clear outside of a relationship. After Jan Di heard about the four year promise, it made Jan Di even more nervous, that her lovely Ga Eul was expecting something as fragile as spoken words to sustain her for years. She didn't want to see Ga Eul's heart broken, because when Ga Eul decided something, she would see it through to the end. Ga Eul had dated other men, mainly to appease her mother. As soon as they started staking their claim on her, Ga Eul would push them away, firmly and directly.

"I guess you don't love him anymore." Jian Di watched her friend closely.

"No. I don't." Ga Eul pressed her lips into a thin line. "Let's talk about something else."

Jan Di grabbed a liquid eyeliner and quickly applied the little brush to Ga Eul's eyes.

"Otoke, Jan Di! What-" Ga Eul was flabbergasted, but when she opened her eyes, Jan Di had painted seriously seductive cat eyes. It looked professional. Ga Eul grinned at her reflection.

"How did you get so good at that?"

Jan Di shrugged. "Eyeliner is nothing compared to stitching up people. Besides, you need to be made up for Yi Jeong's welcome home party tonight."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you might not come if I gave you too much time to think about it." Jan Di waggled her eyebrows at her friend.

Ga Eul looked down at her work clothing. She groaned. "If there's any young guys there, they'll know I'm a teacher." Her school appropriate outfit was going to stick out like a sore thumb at any nightclub. She stretched out her hands helplessly.

Jan Di burst out laughing at the image of Ga Eul, the good school teacher, running away from a pack of boys.

"Oh Miss Ga Eul, teach me something new!" Jan Di giggled as Ga Eul retaliated with perfume attacks. "C'mon Ga Eul. Yi Jeong's been gone for four years. We're getting the old gang back together. Please come. Just for me." Jan Di thought to herself that Ga Eul must still have feelings for Yi Jeong if she cared about what she wore.

"Besides," Jan Di playfully batted her lashes, "you look more like a teacher of adult subjects with that eyeliner." She yelped as Ga Eul threw her mittens at her head.

After a few more transformative minutes at the mirror, Jan Di grabbed Ga Eul and hustled her into the waiting limo. Ga Eul sighed. There was no way out now. Ga Eul slumped against the soft leather and closed her eyes, steeling herself.

Yi Jeong's welcome party was at Sinsa, a stupidly big mega club that Ga Eul had long since out grown. There was the same group of rich snotty kids except they were all older now or married. Ga Eul heard a screechy voice and turned towards it. Her eyes landed on the back of a girl wearing a rubber dress. Ga Eul rolled her eyes as she watched the girl laugh like an airhead and wiggle her hips. She was about to turn away when the airhead realized that her antics weren't working and huffed off. Ga Eul laughed to herself silently. At least some men had taste. She turned back to see who was the unsuccessful target.

It was Yi Jeong.

He wasn't smiling. His posture against the bar was languid, but his gaze was not-he contemplated her slowly. Yi Jeong looked like he had a purpose. She only saw the controlled movements of his body that made her want to flee, but instead rooted her to the ground, like a deer in the sights of a lion. She licked her lips nervously. It was unfair, she thought furiously, that Yi Jeong would still have the same effect on her now. Ga Eul looked around for Jan Di, but she was already in the VIP section, snuggling with Jun Pyo on one of their rare outings. Ga Eul didn't realize she was holding her breath until Yi Jeong whispered in her ear.

"You're staring." He was chuckling, a deep velvet sound that shook her resolve.

"Your vanity knows no bounds, sunbae." Ga Eul looked fiercely up, her defenses at orange alert.

Yi Jeong was enjoying this reaction to him. The first night he came back, he was confused by her manners. They seemed affected and distant. Now that he had her off her guard, she was reacting in the exact way he remembered: cagey and uncomfortable. She looked like she was about to jump out of her skin.

Yi Jeong took her hand and wrapped it around the crook of his elbow. To his surprise, Ga Eul didn't struggle. He looked back at her as he escorted them through the throngs of grinding dancers.

"I'm glad you're here. I wasn't sure you'd come." He leaned in close. So close that Ga Eul smelled his Hermes Verte and felt the stubble of his warm cheek as he talked. Ga Eul relaxed when she saw Ji Hoo and Woo Bin wave enthusiastically from the table.

"I wouldn't miss your homecoming Yi Jeong-shi." She patted his arm, released him and sat next to Ji Hoo, merrily chatting with the soon to be doctor.

After a few hours, Woo Bin finally persuaded her to drink a few glasses of soju, and she felt at ease again. She leaned back into the banquette setting and noticed that Jun Pyo and Jian Di were long gone. Woo Bin was in the bathroom. Ji Hoo was probably asleep in the coatroom. Which meant. Uh oh.

She felt him before she saw him-the dipping of weight in the seat next to her. Yi Jeong casually slung his arm across the back of her seat and took a sip of his drink.

"Ga Eul. Don't you think it's time you stop avoiding me?" Yi Jeong turned to face her directly. Ga Eul dared not to look. She fidgeted with the rim of her glass. Suddenly, she laughed and looked at him.

"I'm not avoiding you. Sunbae! You're so skinny now. What happened? Are you trying to be like one of those boy bands? You know you're too old for that type of thing." Her mind was rattling around at a million miles minute, clutching to any subject other than the one in front of her.

Yi Jeong snorted. She was evading again.

"I'm skinny now because I didn't like the food in Sweden. You'll have to be sure to fatten me up now that I'm back home. I love chestnuts and jujubes [1]." He grinned at her. Ga Eul huffed indignantly.

"Have you seen your parents?" Ga Eul felt that any topic related to Yi Jeong's family would sufficiently deter him. Sure as rain, Yi Jeong immediately tensed up and downed his drink in one gulp.

"Ga Eul, why else would I be back in Korea?" His voice was hard now. The reply died in her throat. She didn't know why she had hoped it would be a different answer.

"My mother needs to be institutionalized." His voice cracked like a whip. "So, please. Let me enjoy these last few days before I have to close the door of an insane asylum on her face."

"Sunbae. I'm so sorry." Ga Eul was horrified. She knew that Yi Jeong's mother was troubled, but having to shut a parent away, she couldn't imagine.

"It's not your problem, Ga Eul." He clenched his jaw and Ga Eul could tell by the set of his mouth that he was going to say something terrible to her.

"Besides, you made the right choice Ga Eul. Picking me is always the wrong choice." He looked down at his right hand, healed from his accident. He flexed carefully, he had been so close to losing everything. He glanced at her face again.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't wait, Sunbae." Ga Eul murmured.

"I'm not." He spun the empty glass. "You were always somebody that I knew I couldn't hold on to." His voice roughened. "You're too fine for the likes of the So family."

"Yi Jeong. I'm still here. And I don't give up on my friends." She felt how hollow her words sounded.

"Ga Eul, you found your soulmate, right?"

Ga Eul opened her mouth to reply.

He didn't wait for her response. He winked and nudged his empty glass towards her. "Have a drink with me." The quicksilver turn of his mood caught her off guard.

Ga Eul picked up the soju bottle, and held his gaze as she poured. Yi Jeong kept smiling, but it never reached his eyes. She didn't realize she was shaking until the mouth of the soju bottle rattled against his cup.

Yi Jeong steadied her wrist, his elegant thumb gently smoothed over her skin. He took a moment. She ducked and focused on her task at hand, which gave him a long opportunity to study her face. His hands already noted the china-like wrist, but his eyes soaked in her thick lashes and small bow mouth. He had missed looking at her. The gentle symmetry of Ga Eul's face always made sense to him, like something he remembered from past life.

She finally took a sip of her drink, the slow burn relaxed her even more. Yi Jeong was laughing with Woo Bin, who had returned from the bathroom. She heard her name.

"Ga Eul, do you know what happened to my blossom cups?" Yi Jeong leaned forward on his elbows.

She flinched, but realized that telling the truth would be the simplest thing. "Oh. I took a piece because I wanted to copy it for my pottery class. I can return it to you tomorrow."

Yi Jeong shrugged. "You know you can have any piece from my studio to study. Normally, I wouldn't care. But someone I know wants the set and I don't have enough time to make another one."

"Okay." Ga Eul took the last sip of her drink and smoothed her skirt to stand up. "Sunbae, welcome back home. I have to get going now."

"So soon?"

"It's parent teacher conference day. Which means I have to be mentally prepared." Ga Eul blanched.

"You won't be outspoken and direct?" Yi Jeong grinned.

"Not if I want to keep my job." Ga Eul grinned back. "Don't worry about me, the truth always rises to the top."

"I hope so." Yi Jeong rose up and escorted her to the exit of the club. She looked back in Woo Bin to wave; but Woo Bin was already deep in conversation with some fascinating bimbo.

Yi Jeong waved down a cab and lifted his shoulders in apology. "I would drive you home Ga Eul, but I got rid of my car."

Her eyebrow shot up-one of the many surprises about this new Yi Jeong. "But, you loved that useless thing!"

Yi Jeong laughed. "So the truth rose to the top. I thought you didn't like flashy things?"

"I don't. But I have good memories in that car." Ga Eul opened the cab door. "I'll return your cups tomorrow Sunbae. Goodnight."

He balled his hands into his pockets. Yi Jeong didn't want to risk that his arms would just wrap around her slender back. His body always seemed to have its own accord around her. The cab light winked in the distance and disappeared. Ga Eul hadn't changed as much as he thought. Tomorrow, he would see.

* * *

[1] Chestnuts and jujubes being the traditional food for fertility in Korea.

A/N: You guys are pretty amazing. I decided to post the 3rd chapter early since I got to 10 reviews for chapter 2 already. Thanks for all the input and keep it coming. If I get 10 more reviews for chapter 1-3, then chapter 4 will go up in less than a week too. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4 - How do I Fit?

**Chapter 4 - How Do I Fit?**

The slate sky, untouched by the blush of dawn, bore no secrets in the morning. Yi Jeong opened the door to his studio. The place was silent. He wanted it that way when he returned. Not a single pot dared to move from its footprint of dust.

Yi Jeong pushed up his sleeves and sat down at a his old wheel. He tapped his foot on the pedal and the wheel spun with an oiled smoothness. He found the fresh clay already dropped off for delivery. Yi Jeong squeezed the tightness of the new clay-it would take hours of pounding, plying, rolling, to expel the air from its moist depth. Clay with air was insidious. It would go through all the motions, but then be proven a fraud when the real test came.

But the piece he was working now, could be something beautiful days later, was just a clod of greyish earth. He barely looked up as he worked a small lump in his hands. Yi Jeong was best when his hands did all the talking for him. When his hands ran through the silky strands of Ga Eul's hair, when he punched his father's face for the never-ending pain he inflicted on his mother, when he had felt the small of Ga Eul's back through her thin silk dress. He liked the curve of a woman there. It was public, yet intimate; only a few inches lower and he would be indecent. But Ga Eul let him touch her there, he didn't know why. His mind was ruminating when he noticed a flash of red outside his window. Yi Jeong immediately went to the doorway and saw Ga Eul turning away from a package she had just dropped.

"I hope I still get a good morning?" He called out to her departing back.

Ga Eul winced and slowly turned around. She adjusted her face so it was winsome smile. "Sunbae, I thought you'd be at home."

"Ga Eul, come in. I'll make you some tea before you go to work." He leaned against the doorway. The sun broke out across the horizon and shone through the strands of her hair, lightening the dark strands to a golden brown. Her hair whipped around her like a halo and Yi Jeong steadied himself. He had no idea how unprepared he was for her-this woman that looked like she stepped out of a dream. He shook his head and cleared his eyes. No, it was Ga Eul.

Ga Eul felt her stomach drop but nodded. She stepped into the studio and felt herself go backwards in time. Four years ago, she had told him that he was a coward for not going after what he wanted.

Ga Eul looked at the puzzle piece that Yi Jeong's first love, Eun Jae, had made for him. Eun Jae was also her pottery teacher at the art center. The woman felt so familiar and Ga Eul didn't understand at first. Eun Jae's knowledge was breathtaking, as was her dedication to her craft. Ga Eul didn't comprehend until she saw them, Yi Jeong and Eun Jane, together. Eun Jae alone understood what it was like to be pursued by her passion-they shared something sublime. Ga Eul remember how she felt the finality of each fragment of the Yi Jeong and Eun Jae relationship fall into place. She thought she had made her peace back then.

She traced the outline of the puzzle. Each missing piece completed the phrase, "Once chance in one lifetime." Ga Eul's mouth twisted. She remember those weeks of Yi Jeong's misery. He confessed that he had missed a meeting with Eun Jae three years ago that forever changed them. He didn't show and she disappeared.

After months of searching, Ga Eul finally found Eun Jae's meeting place, on a rooftop in Seoul. Ga Eul sat out on the roof during that chilly dawn, waiting for the right moment. And when the sunrise broke between the billboards and spelled out, "I love you, Yi Jeong," the invisible message from Eun Jae to Yi Jeong, she had felt all of her hope leak away like water through a broken vase. Ga Eul swallowed back the memory. Her eyes weren't clear yet, there was still the image of Yi Jeong screaming for a second chance, for Eun Jae, the next morning on the same roof.

Yi Jeong set down the steaming pot of tea and Ga Eul followed him to the table where she spent so much time contemplating the man in front of her. He had changed in four years. And so had she. They were pieces of a puzzle that never fit together. It was too much to hope for that their jagged edges would align just because of the passage of time. Life didn't work that way.

"Europeans drink tea differently than we do. They cover everything with sugar and milk."

"I like this tea." Ga Eul took a sip and savored it. "It's the way Anders drinks it."

Yi Jeong watched the pink tip of her tongue dart against the lip of china. He wondered what it tasted like. If she liked the gentle tug of his teeth, or if she would reciprocate.

"Thank you." She set the tea cup down and looked at him curiously.

They sat in companionable silence for a beat and both began.

"Your mother-"

"I came back-"

She sat back and waited for Yi Jeong to begin again. He looked at the piece of the puzzle, currently on vacation from its home, on the table.

"I don't think i ever thanked you for that day." His searched her face. "And after the way I treated you."

Ga Eul finally met his eyes.

"I just wanted you to know that she loves you."

"Loved, Ga Eul. The same wind doesn't blow twice." He took the tea cup from her and held her hands cupped in his own. "These hands are always so cool. But you what they say about warm hearts." Yi Jeong pressed the tips of her fingers to his lips. Ga Eul took a sharp breath and he continued, "I know what I said last night. But I lied. I did come back to Seoul for you. You were the first place I wanted to be when I got off the plane."

Ga Eul felt her mouth fill with cotton. Her stomach flipped. Yi Jeong couldn't possibly be serious. She had done a solid job of convincing her heart. She had argued with it like a litigator, poking holes into memories and eroding hope. Ga Eul had herself convinced thoroughly, Yi Jeong wasn't hers.

"You were always my savior and I didn't see it."

From the precipice, she felt herself step back. Her heart still felt hollow, like a drum.

Her voice was crisp when she responded. "Yi Jeong, I didn't save you. I helped you. You saved yourself. You don't need me for that." She withdrew her hands.

Yi Jeong heard the cold edge of her voice. He was puzzled by her. It wasn't the first time. He remembered waking up to a furious Ga Eul, demanding that he give more of himself, not to her, but to Eun Jae. He had pushed her away like an annoying child. He didn't understand then that Ga Eul saw him clearer than Eun Jae had ever. Through his mask, through his self defenses, through all his posturing, Ga Eul sliced him to the core. He rejected her then because someone who could filet him to the bone was frightening enough without romantic entanglement. He sighed. It was actually Ga Eul's words that made him discover Eun Jae had moved on, to his hyung, the brother the family had disinherited.

"Have I missed my chance then?" His voice flattening the emotion in his question.

"I had the chance to be your friend, Yi Jeong." She smiled warmly at him."I helped a dear friend find something precious to him. I don't ever regret that." To his surprise, Ga Eul slipped her light fingers into his hand and squeezed. "You don't have to keep that promise, because you think I'm owed something. I'm not. I loved you at the wrong time. But because of that, I met Anders."

"You're happy?"

Ga Eul nodded. "But what about you, Yi Jeong?"

His eyes drift away from her face and towards his workshop. "I'm always fine Ga Eul. I have this," he gestured to the room.

She bit her lip and hesitated. Maybe it wasn't the right time.

"What about your family?"

"What about them?"

"Your father-"

"I thought you weren't going to save me anymore." He passed the tea cup back and forth between his right and left.

"No. You don't need me to save you. But my friendship is far better than that." She grinned at him and looked around. "I need a glass of water to make my point."

Yi Jeong stared at her in disbelief. "You're laughing about that?"

"You were an asshole." She chuckled, "I'd say that was one of the best moments of our relationship. I really let you know how I felt."

"I deserved it."

"So you said that your mother-"

"I don't want to talk about that right now Ga Eul."

"Alright, sunbae. But I'll be here. Whenever you need to talk." She looked at the unopened bottle of whiskey on the shelf. "Don't go crazy like before."

Yi Jeong suddenly stood up. "You should get to work."

"Araso." Ga Eul shrugged on her coat again. "Sunbae. If you need someone to go with you to visit your mother-"

He nodded.

"I'm free on Saturdays." Ga Eul flashed him a smile and he felt his chest tighten. Yi Jeong leaned against the window pane and followed her form until she disappeared. He thought that it would be nearly impossible to be friends with Ga Eul, but that she made it impossible not to be her friend.

Yi Jeong looked at his datebook. His secretary circled the date of a fundraiser for Ga Eul's school. In only a week. He was not known to give up something when he finally decided.

* * *

**Chapter 5 - The Girl in the Pink Dress**

"Ga Eul! Wake up! Wake up!" Her mother shook her slightly.

"Aish Omoni! It's saturday morning." Ga Eul burrowed deeper into her bed. "Please let me sleep a little more. I was having a good dream." She tried to wave her mother off and return to her dream, where a handsome man (she was sure he was) and her were slow dancing. He smelled familiar but she didn't know him. She felt his chin rest on the top of her head and she smiled into his lapels. She craned her neck to look at her secret dancer-

"Lazy daughter!" Her mother yanked the covers from the bed and Ga Eul felt the shock of cold air. "You have to sign for this delivery."

Rubbing her eyes, Ga Eul repeated, "Delivery? I haven't ordered anything."

Ga Eul felt a wash of deja vu. She was holding a huge paper box, the kind of thick ply cardboard box that contained either pricey jewelry or dresses. She shook the box slightly. Judging from the rustling, it was a dress. She looked at the distinctive ribbon winding around the lipstick red surface and slowly spelled out, "Va-len-ti-no." Surely, this was a mistake. Government workers like her didn't order things from the Valentino store.

A/N: Thank you guys for reading! I love getting the really specific reviews from readers. Really helps me see what's working and what's not. Just like before, if I can get 10 more reviews for this story, I'll be sure to post Chapter 5 early.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Girl in the Pink Dress

**Chapter 5 - The Girl in the Pink Dress**

"Ga Eul! Wake up! Wake up!" Her mother shook her slightly.

"Aish Omoni! It's saturday morning." Ga Eul burrowed deeper into her bed. "Please let me sleep a little more. I was having a good dream." She tried to wave her mother off and return to her dream, where a handsome man (she was sure he was) and her were slow dancing. He smelled familiar but she didn't know him. She felt his chin rest on the top of her head and she smiled into his lapels. She craned her neck to look at her secret dancer-

"Lazy daughter!" Her mother yanked the covers from the bed and Ga Eul felt the shock of cold air. "You have to sign for this delivery."

Rubbing her eyes, Ga Eul repeated, "Delivery? I haven't ordered anything."

Ga Eul felt a wash of deja vu. She was holding a huge paper box, the kind of thick ply cardboard box that contained either pricey jewelry or dresses. She shook the box slightly. Judging from the rustling, it was a dress. She looked at the distinctive ribbon winding around the lipstick red surface and slowly spelled out, "Va-len-ti-no." Surely, this was a mistake. Government workers like her didn't order things from the Valentino store.

"Omoni, I think this was delivered to the wrong home." She called out to her mother.

"Ga Eul, it was addressed to you!"

"Otoke-" She pulled on the ribbon. Encased in a carefully tufted silk interior, there was a nipped waisted shatung silk dress that looked like a dream. Ga Eul was flabbergasted. The color was the same deep blush as the jacket she wore in high school, but in this incarnation, the rich material made the dress look sophisticated instead of girly. The design was so clever, the right shoulder gathered into a thick bow and exposed the clavicles. She slid her hands over the fabric, her hands enjoying the exquisite texture. A thick creamy card was tucked under the dress and she recognized the bold script immediately.

"A dress is a woman's best armour. Good luck at your date auction."

Ga Eul frowned. This felt all too familiar, like she had rewound the tape of her life and restarted in an old spot. She grabbed her phone.

Yi Jeong finally found a suit that he didn't find offensive. He had spent most of his younger years in Kangnam, well-versed in the three G's: Gucci, Givenchy, and Gaultier. Those things in the past didn't feel right anymore. He tapped his knees impatiently in the taxi. Ga Eul's school fundraiser was being held one of the smaller banquet halls in Soeul, in a district he'd never been to before.

He adjusted his thin tie before he stepped into the room. And it was with satisfaction that he noticed people giving him strange, unfamiliar looks. He knew he looked out of place in the conservative crowd, his hair was long and unruly and he didn't bother to wear the normal three pieces of boring. Yi Jeong looked past the group of whispering women and zeroed in on a slender girl in pink Valentino. Her hair swung like a glassy curtain under the spotlight, he could see the elegant lines of the shoulders. Yi Jeong felt his mouth go dry.

He pushed himself through the crowd and finally stood behind his target. He gently grasped her elbow and whispered into her ear.

"Ga Eul? I'm not Ga Eul." The girl turned to look at Yi Jeong. She was right. She definitely wasn't Ga Eul. He jerked back his hand.

"Who are you?"

"Sunbae!" Ga Eul's hand landed on his shoulder. Yi Jeong turned around to see Ga Eul smiling like a cat. Seeing the confusion on his face, she doubled over in laughter. "I'm sorry Ha Jin." she said to the girl wearing the Valentino, "This, So Yi Jeong-shi, is the generous donor that provided your dress."

Ha Jin's eyes widened and she began to stammer.

"Oh, thank you, sir! I truly feel like a princess. I hope I bring in lots of money for Shinsue Foundation." Ha Jin spoke with a thick southern accent, but she had a burst honest admiration that caught Yi Jeong off guard.

He chuckled. "Er, you're welcome. You look stunning." He muttered before bowing politely to leave. He felt Ga Eul latching onto his arm and smiled to himself. When they finally arrived at the bar, he ordered white wine and whiskey.

"You've gotten more clever."

She took a sip of her wine and smirked at him. "Sunbae, a girl with a boyfriend can't possibly accept a gift like that from another man."

"Where is Anders?"

"He's finishing his dissertation." Ga Eul's mouth turned down. "I haven't seen him for days he's been so busy."

Yi Jeon studied her glossy lips and quirked up the corner of his mouth. "Lucky me." He let his gaze drift over Ga Eul's body while she chatted with her fellow teacher. It seemed that Yi Jeong had picked wrong for her. Ga Eul was wearing an off the shoulder black dress that circled her creamy shoulders and hugged her hips. She looked like an Italian movie star with her dark swoop of cat eyeliner and upswept hair. There was slit on the right side of her dress that went dangerously high. He could see the expanse of Ga Eul's thighs. Suddenly, the room felt too small and he tugged at his tie.

"Yi Jeong-shi, are you ok? You look a little flushed."

He sucked down the whiskey and let the burn settle his stomach. He nodded.

Ga Eul gazed coolly back at Yi Jeong. "Thank you for the thought, Sunbae. It was a beautiful dress, but Ha Jin just moved here from Busan. Soeul is so expensive and she was telling me she had nothing to wear tonight. Thank you for helping my friend."

"You're welcome." He tilted his head. Yi Jeong felt thrown. Could this still be the same Ga Eul? This seductress that looked like she could slay a thousand men with a withering glance?

"You got here just in time."

"Really?"

She sighed. "I know this is important to the school, but it's still boring me to death," Ga Eul made a funny face and Yi Jeong snickered in response. "I don't know why Jun Pyo drags Jan Di to things like this."

"Probably because Jun Pyo makes it up to Jan Di in other ways." He waggled his eyebrows at her and her eyes widened. In the past, Yi Jeong could count on Ga Eul to blush a furious shade of pink and ignore him for the rest of the night. But this new, older Ga Eul just tossed her head back and laughed. He groaned internally. Ga Eul only got better with age.

"I should hope so. Maybe they'll get married when the Koreas reunite." She conspiratorially whispered. "I really think date auctions are awful."

"I don't."

"You wouldn't." She shot him a glare. "Using your economic advantage is really unfair."

"Why is it unfair?" He tapped his rocks glass and the bartender poured him two more fingers of whiskey. "Because I intend on bidding on you?"

"You don't think I have a strategy to outwit you?"

"Maybe you do."

"Yi Jeong-shi, do you take my friendship so lightly that you're willing to make trouble between my boyfriend and I?" Her voice hardened. Gone was the light mood of a few minutes ago. Instead, he noticed that her back had stiffened against some type of invisible onslaught.

"Ga Eul, I am here to support your foundation. I don't think it's outlandish of me to bid on you." He shrugged good naturedly. "Wouldn't you rather spend time with me than some of the ajusshis here?" He leaned in and delivered his smirk. "Or are you really interested in learning the finer points of a fifty year old man's digestion?"

She chuckled but just as quickly, she corrected herself. "They're not just some ajusshis." Ga Eul replied. She nodded to the far corner. "That's the education minister. That group runs all the private funding for early start education." Her voice cooled considerably. "These are some of the most important people in the education. They decide how the future of Korea will look." Her eyes swept the room. "That has to count for something."

Her upturned face had a million thoughts running underneath its beautiful surface. He caught something flinty in her eyes and he heard her say, "After all, we all can't be artists. Korea has to work."

Yi Jeong sucked in his breath. Was he hearing it correctly? Ga Eul thought he was shallow? Was he purposeless in her eyes?

"Artists work."

"Of course. Artists can eat only when everyone in society works." Ga Eul paused for a moment. "I think all of my kids are talented. But I have to teach them enough skills so that they can survive in the world." Ga Eul took a critical eye at the program on the bar. "This is just the first step, making sure that lower income children have access to education." Suddenly her mood brightened "Sunbae, if this goes well, kids in the Eunpyung district will finally get computers. Do you know what this will mean to them?" The megawatt smile on her face was infectious.

Ha Jin suddenly appeared behind Ga Eul. "Yah, Ga Eul! You have to come with me now. You're next on the auction block!" Yi Jeong leaned against the bar to let Ga Eul through.

He plopped down at the bar stool that Ga Eul just vacated, the wind knocked out of him. Ga Eul wasn't just a kindergarten teacher, she was a passionate advocate for education. Her clipped precise prose when she talked about her work was astonishing. He knew Ga Eul was smart, but her passion, optimism, mixed with her amazing mind was a potent cocktail. He ran through his hand through his hair. He was wrong when he said that not much had changed back at home. It was he who was left behind, not Ga Eul.

He glanced up at the stage when the nebbish MC finally called out Ga Eul's name. The man was awkward in old tweed, but Ga Eul looked at him like he was a member of SHINee.

"The lovely Miss Chu Ga Eul will take the lucky bidder on a tour of Eunpyung," the MC warbled out. "Of course, dinner and drinks will be provided at the finest kalbi restaurant." This earned a few chortles from the audience. The MC handed the mike to her.

Ga Eul bowed to the audience and began, "As this distinguished audience knows, Eunpyung doesn't have the income to support a robust early start program. Because our society is so highly competitive, these kids from Eunpyung are disadvantaged from birth." The audience murmured in consent. "Please help the Shinsue foundation so that we can help the children of Korea. Thank you!"

Yi Jeong watched as some of the old men that he certainly knew through his father started a bidding war among themselves. He ground his teeth, there was no way he would let Ga Eul spend anytime in their company, no matter how good their money was for the foundation. He slammed down his glass.

"One hundred million won."

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading! Here's a preview of Chapter 6. Please review! If I get 10 reviews, I'll be sure to post the next chapter early.

**Chapter 6 - Is It a Date if You Bought My Time?**

His voice rang out. There was the predictable gasp from the audience and Ga Eul looked a little embarrassed. But Yi Jeong didn't care. The bidding war for Ga Eul was over. He gave a nice charitable tax-deductible donation that his father wouldn't object to; and most of all, because he bought her time, she couldn't refuse to see him.

Ga Eul stewed silently. She thought that her bleeding heart speech would at least annoy Yi Jeong or turn him off. Annoyingly, Yi Jeong did exactly what he said he would do, which was to buy her time with money. Ga Eul grumbled to herself. This wasn't going to be end of it. She'd make sure Yi Jeong would be miserable enough that any romantic notion would go out the window. She set her jaw tightly and saw the insufferable cad waiting outside.

"Yi Jeong sunbae. I will see you next Saturday."

With his hands in his pocket, he leaned back to bounce on his heels. "Can the future of Korea wait that long?"


	6. Chapter 6 - Is It a Date

**Chapter 6 - Is It a Date if You Bought My Time?**

His voice rang out. There was the predictable gasp from the audience and Ga Eul looked a little embarrassed. But Yi Jeong didn't care. The bidding war for Ga Eul was over. He gave a nice charitable tax-deductible donation that his father wouldn't object to; and most of all, because he bought her time, she couldn't refuse to see him.

Ga Eul stewed silently. She thought that her sarcastic speech would at least make him take pause, maybe reconsider his renewed interest in her. Annoyingly, Yi Jeong did exactly what he said he would do, which was to buy her time with money. Ga Eul grumbled to herself. This wasn't going to be the end of it. She'd make sure Yi Jeong would be miserable enough that any romantic notion would go out the window. She set her jaw tightly and saw the insufferable cad waiting outside.

"Yi Jeong sunbae. I will see you next Saturday."

He had his hands in his pockets and he leaned back to bounce on his heels. "Can the future of Korea wait that long?"

Ga Eul stepped closer and brushed a little piece of dust from his shoulder. The calm, intimate gesture caught Yi Jeung's attention.

"Just be ready, sunbae. It will not be what you expect."

"You never are, Ga Eul." He caught her wrist as she pulled it away and drew her close, his eyes daring her to show any sign of weakness. Ga Eul eyes snapped. He knew that look.

Ga Eul was weak. She was just doing an exceedingly good job of hiding how Yi Jeong's firm grasp on her wrist made her feel like she was eighteen again. She might as well be decked in bows, knee socks, with a headband, stammering her confession to a distant Yi Jeong four years ago. With the force of the his smile upon her again, she grew wary.

A loud honk startled them both. "Sir, you needed a cab?"

Yi Jeong released her wrist and threw an angry glance at the taxi driver. "You have awful timing."

"Aigoo! I got here in less than three minutes."

"Goodnight Ga Eul." He opened the cab door. She was surprised when he didn't get into the car with her. He tapped her window and smiled, "Sweet dreams."

"Pabo. Idiot. Dumbass." She repeated to herself and winced at the Yi Jeong sized headache she had caused. Ga Eul knocked her head against the back of the cab seat and blew a raspberry at the ceiling. She knew that the dress meant Yi Jeong wanted to maneuver her. He never did anything without a reason. She bit her fingernail. She didn't think that Yi Jeong would lose pride by pursuing her after she had told him so firmly that she was no longer on the table. It wasn't his style. The lights of Seoul sped past the cab. From her vantage point, the contours of the city felt foreign, the lights brighter, the buildings more imposing-was it because Yi Jeong was back?

Ga Eul sighed. But, there was the issue of Yi Jeong confessing to her that he had come back to Korea for her. She still wasn't sure if that was Yi Jeong trying to make good on the promise he had made four years ago. When it came to feelings, Yi Jeong was a black box. She was never on firm ground with Yi Jeong. She thought about the flush of blood to her face whenever he got too close, his heated gaze making her words dry in her mouth. Yi Jeong's face was more angular now, and today she spotted the shadow of his beard, neatly outlining his full upper lip and contouring his chin. Ga Eul shook her head. She had been able to get closer than most, but then again, he had also never said something true without leaving her to deal with the consequences.

She took a deep breath. The real problem was that she didn't much like herself around Yi Jeong, sharp with words, her nerves on the surface of her skin, alive with static electricity. She thought about Anders, with his cool green eyes and easy gripe, how different he was from Yi Jeong. She wanted the former and she didn't know how she felt about the latter, except to dislike the untethered feelings he aroused in her. Even with Yi Jeong's confession, she knew she had done the right thing for the both of them by refusing. His family, his work, everything would be more important than she was. And it wasn't like Yi Jeong understood how much of her life was bound up in her work now. Ga Eul suddenly stopped herself. Why was she even entertaining the possibility?

She groaned.

"Miss? We're here. I've been waiting for you to get out for 5 minutes."

"Oh. I'm so sorry!" She paid the cab and walked to her house. After kicking off her shoes, she slumped in her vanity chair. After she had finished her routine, her bare face stared back at her in the mirror.

"You're doing the right thing."

Her face didn't respond.

She stared at the ceiling of her bedroom until her tired mind finally willed her to sleep at five a.m.

The week whipped by in a whirlwind of activity. Ga Eul had been so busy wrapping up the activities of the Shinsue fundraiser that she barely had time to really think about Saturday. Sooner than later, Saturday morning came and she found herself at the front steps of the Eunpyung public library.

"Seonsaeng-nim!" Her little charge, Park Dong-won, practiced on the bike she had rented. She looked up at the building. It was lovely, with a sloping windows that invited light in. It had odd little square turrets on the top, almost making the place feel like a fortress. She smiled to herself at the joke. Knowledge didn't need defense, it just needed to flow out to whoever needed it.

"Please give me a push!" Dong-won screamed as his bike swung dangerously in one direction. Ga Eul ran up and grabbed the seat of the bike just in time. She steadied the bike and gave Dong-won another push that sent him free like a bird around the park.

"Ga Eul."

She noticed the new Yi Jeong wore more leather. Today, he wore a cognac leather jacket that made him seem more rakish than all those pristine suits; he felt so new to her, cracking like untanned leather. Dong-won waved to Yi Jeong as if he were guiding a Boeing 747 for a landing. The motion finally distracted him, Yi Jeong moved his gaze from Ga Eul and frowned at Dong-won.

"Who's the tike?"

"He's our guide for the day." She smiled sunnily. "His family lives in Eunpyung. I thought there was no better person for the job."

"Seonsaeng-nim." Dong-won skidded to a stop in front of them. "Is this your boyfriend?"

Ga Eul laughed. "Park Dong-won, this is my friend So Yi Jeong."

Yi Jeong dropped to a crouch to Park Dong-won's eye level. He needed all the help he could get, and this kid looked like he could swing things in his favor.

"Park Dong-won, you are a very observant young man."

"That's why Seonsaeng-nim chose me for this job." Dong-won whispered with fierce pride to Yi Jeong. "I'm pretty sure that I can become her boyfriend after you break her heart"

"So, you're my enemy, Park Dong-won."

Ga Eul rolled her eyes at the macho posturing going both ways.

"Neither of you two are my boyfriend." She mocked gently.

Yi Jeong clutched his heart and sprawled onto the ground in a very good imitation of deathly heartbreak. Dong-won, seeing his competition already outperforming him, swung his hand to his heart dramatically and fell on top of Yi Jeong. The two would-be suitors looked up from their pile of heartbreak.

"Seonsaeng-nim. You have broken us both." Yi Jeong opened one eye. Ga Eul was twisting her mouth, but one more raised eyebrow from Yi Jeong and a peal of laughter escaped.

"C'mon Romeos. Please. Sunbae was promised a tour and I never break a promise." She swung onto her bike effortlessly. Her skinny jeans wrapped her curves and nipped at her tiny waist. Her small rounded rear end looked like dessert sitting in the bike seat. She turned around and frowned at him. Yi Jeong felt the breath catch in his chest.

"Yi Jeong. Do I have something on my face? Stop staring and come on!"

He shrugged and dusted himself. "I can't help it if you're followed by really good lighting." He walked over to Ga Eul and leaned on her handlebars.

"Ga Eul, I don't know how to ride a bike."

"Wae? Yi Jeong-shi, you are definitely not cool enough to be Seonsaeng-nim's boyfriend then." Dong-woo was too smug. Yi Jeong decided that the twerp needed to be taken down a few notches.

"Yah!" Yi Jeong chased Dong-woo, who hopped on his bike and sped to the opposite site of the library, "Is that any way to speak to your senior?"

"Sunbae?" Ga Eul was laughing too. "Is it really true that you don't know how to ride a bike?"

Yi Jeong shrugged off his jacket and glared at Ga Eul. "Looks like I'm going to need to get my money's worth today. Teach me how to ride a bike, Seonsaeng-nim." He bowed, too deeply to be polite. She resisted the urge to pull his hair. Yi Jeong really brought out the baser instincts in her.

The bike lesson turned out to be a far better play for Yi Jeong than Dong-won. The boy rode his bike listlessly around the fountain, doing half-hearted tricks in attempt to get attention. Yi Jeong was the clear winner. Ga Eul ran alongside him, steadying his handlebars whenever the bike seemed to have a mind of its own. He could still feel the imprint of Ga Eul's hands on his shoulder when she pushed him forward. He leaned back so he smell her perfume. It was different than the citrusy scent he remembered, she smelled like orange blossoms and sandalwood.

Yi Jeong was moving like an erratic clumsy snail, but he felt like a jet plane. When he finally started letting the natural athlete in his body take over, the bike felt like a part of him. He circled the library plaza in four complete loops. On his last loop, he heard Ga Eul let out a huge "fighting!"

It felt like four years had never happened. Maybe this was his wish world, where he wasn't a man doomed to ruin the women he loved. Ga Eul would always run to him, the way she did now, her face beaming like a pale planet.

"Sunbae!" She stood a little distance away from the bike, but her body leaned towards him. "You did it! I can't believe how fast you learned." Yi Jeong wanted nothing more than to hook his arm around her waist and bury his face in her soft chest. He imagined the delicate skin there, fragrant and silky. She would run her hand through his hair, she would lean down and kiss him in the afternoon sun. He would spend hours with her, lost in their own time, without a notion of the outside world.

"Now, can we go?" Dong-won's voice cut across the plaza.

Yi Jeong squinted and looked at Ga Eul, her smile suppressed to faint line. She would deny it, but he had touched her today. He looked back at the pissed off 10 year-old on his bike.

"Dong-won! Where do you want to eat?"

After a huge meal of jajangmyeon, Dong-won had ingeniously covered his face in black bean sauce to look like facial hair.

"Aish, Dong-woo!" Ga Eul carefully patted the boy's face with a napkin, "What would your mother say if I returned you to her with a beard?"

"Seonsaeng-nim, I've been thinking." Dong-won replied seriously. "You should still keep Yi Jeong sunbae as your boyfriend."

"Why is that?" Yi Jeong couldn't help smiling and placed his chop sticks down.

"Even though I would make a better boyfriend, Seonsaeng-nim laughs a lot when she looks you."

Ga Eul stopped cleaning the boy's face for a second. She could feel Yi Jeong's eyes.

"That's because Yi Jeong sunbae is really funny." She began tickling Dong-won's sides, "Do you think I can be your girlfriend if I can make you laugh like this?"

Dong-won's tears of laughter couldn't be contained in the little restaurant. Yi Jeong dashed some bills onto the table and they ran out with the little instigator between them.

Ga Eul felt the laughter deflate in her chest and immediately replaced with all the tension she displaced earlier. She wanted to see what was on Yi Jeong's face, was he happy? Ga Eul screwed down the temptation and looked straight ahead.

Yi Jeong slowed down and looked at his hand, sticky with jajangmyeon sauce. Dong-won grinned at him and looked at Ga Eul, who was doing a very good imitation of a forward-facing robot. Yi Jeong craned his neck, he saw the cobalt dome of autumn sky; the sun warmed his face, and it bounced off Ga Eul's hair in silky tones of red. He could pretend that life was different. But, this proxy family of Ga Eul and Dong-won felt like fresh cuts, his heart stung with the possibilities. Still, he soak everything in, Ga Eul and the kid were a watery illusion that could evaporate in a millisecond. Yi Jeong's mouth twisted, he could indulge in a little bit of fantasy, but he couldn't let it catch him. The So family was not big on family outings. Yi Jeong looked down at Ga Eul's loose grip on Dong-won's hand and tried to remember his mother, happy and whole.

Dong-won saw a children's park ahead and tugged them with the strength of a thousand kids towards the tempting monkey bars and tire swings.

Yi Jeong and Ga Eul sat in the swings and watched Dong-won work off the jajangmyeon energy on the monkey bars.

"You said to me, once, that when a kid sees something he wants, he doesn't hesitate to take it. Because he knows that he'll regret it later." Yi Jeong watched the boy duck under a bridge.

"Kids are simple like that. They don't need to think about other people's feelings." She swung the swing slightly and enjoyed the drag of sand underfoot.

"You care about what Anders thinks."

"Of course. I wouldn't be a very good girlfriend if I didn't." She didn't look at him, her eyes following Dong-won.

"Is that why Park Dong-won is here?"

"Sunbae, you think I'm pretty devious." Ga Eul smiled to no one in particular.

He snorted. "I know you have a brain." He kicked himself back on the swing and straightened out his body. He gathered momentum and finally flew off the swing in one long jump.

"Thank you, Ga Eul." He held out his hand. "I had a really good day."

Ga Eul graciously grabbed his hand as he pulled her off the swing. She lost her balance for a moment when her shoes buckled in the sand. She gasped and landed hard on her back. Unfortunately, she had dragged Yi Jeong with her and he winced as he landed on his wrist to avoid crushing her with his fall.

"Sunbae! Your wrist!" Ga Eul looked frantically at his face twisted in pain.

He opened his eyes. "I'm ok. It's just an old injury." Even though he held himself above her, they were only separated by a few inches of air. Yi Jeong felt his entire body react to this proximity to Ga Eul, blood rushing to various parts of his body that were wholly inappropriate. He could see her light rib cage rise and fall, hair fanning out from her face, and her cheeks flushed. He didn't notice her worried glances as he grunted in frustration.

"Yi Jeong-shi-"

"I'm fine." He sat back on his knee and slowly dusted himself off.

Ga Eul bounced up to her feet and began brushing sand from her jeans. Suddenly, she turned towards Dong-won's direction.

"Dong-won?" She cried out.

Dong won was gone.

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A/N: Woohoo! 10 reviews since 11/19. Thank you readers! Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the early update. Same policy as always, 10 more reviews gets you the next chapter early. Here's a preview of chapter 7:

**Chapter 7 - Before Sunset**

None of the adorable little mop tops turned to answer on the playground. Ga Eul around the playground obstacles to see if Dong-won was hiding. Yi Jeong followed, only a few paces behind. He grabbed every little boy that was wearing Park Dong-won's sweatshirt, but none of the children were him.

"Oh god." Ga Eul was frantic, "What if we've lost him?"

"Ga Eul, he's small. He can't have gone far."

"What if someone kidnapped him?"


	7. Chapter 7 - Before Sunset

**Chapter 7 - Before Sunset**

None of the adorable little mop tops turned to answer on the playground. Ga Eul around the playground obstacles to see if Dong-won was hiding. Yi Jeong followed, only a few paces behind. He grabbed every little boy who wore Park Dong-won's color, but none of the children were him.

"Oh god." Ga Eul was frantic, "What if we've lost him?"

"Ga Eul, he's small. He can't have gone far."

"What if someone kidnapped him?"

Yi Jeong grabbed her shoulders and peered at her face; Ga Eul's dilated pupils made her pallor even more pronounced. "Ga Eul, you try the restaurant we went to, and I'm going to try the toy stores in the area."

"Ok." Ga Eul grimaced and immediately dashed off in the direction of the restaurant.

Yi Jeong squeezed his eyes shut and tried to rework the problem. Whenever he hid as a child, he was hiding from something upsetting. Whether it was his mother crying or his father shouting, he knew that hiding could give some respite. His eyes frantically search the children's park.

From across the playground, he saw the problem. A giant kid, almost twice the size of everyone on the playground, was stalking around the jungle gum. He watched the little giant terrorize a group of girls that were sitting on their rubber tire bridge.

His phone rang.

"Yi Jeong! He's not here at the restaurant." Ga Eul's voice was strangled with panic.

"I'm coming towards you Ga Eul, I don't think he's at the playground anymore." He slide the phone back into his pocket and took off into the Eunpyung streets. Then he remembered something. Before going to the restaurant, Ga Eul had locked up their rental bikes near a petting zoo. She had promised to take Dong-won to the petting zoo right after they finished eating.

Ga Eul felt ice in the pit of her stomach. Dong-won trusted her. Dong-won's parents trusted her. If she wasn't too busy mooning over Yi Jeong, this would have never happened. Her inner voices began to rage, listing the things that had gone wrong because she was too distracted by _him _to pay attention to her responsibilities. She tapped her foot frantically and paced outside the restaurant. Worst case scenarios begin to flash before her eyes. Dong-won was crushed beneath a speeding automobile. Dong-won had fallen into a deep ravine, which didn't even exist in the neighborhood. Ga Eul's imagination was taking over. She sat down at the curb but couldn't stop her knees from shaking. Maybe Dong-won had been kidnapped by a shady men. Yi Jeong would have to rescue him, thereby putting himself in danger. Now her hand would be have fate of two people. She would be the Lady MacBeth of babysitters. Ga Eul groaned.

"Seonsaeng-nim!" Can you hallucinate a sound, Ga Eul grimaced. When she turned towards the source of the noise, her chest collapsed. Yi Jeong held Dong-won's hand; the two of them made unbelievably handsome father-son pair. Ga Eul surprised herself with the tears in her eyes.

"Oh my gosh! Thank god you're safe!" She ran over to Dong-won and examined the little boy thoroughly, accounting for all limbs and unscathed skin. Dong-won looked fine. He grinned up at Yi Jeong.

"Yi-Jeong sunbae knew exactly where I was!"

"Dong-won! Why did you run away?" She tried to scold him.

Dong-won dropped his gaze to the ground. "Seonsaeng-nim, I was being a coward. This big kid started chasing me, and I ran away."

"Oh Dong-won. Don't run away from your problems." She chided him before wrapping him a tight squeeze, relief and adrenaline coursing through her.

When she let go of Dong-won, her heart was still beating wildly as she looked at Yi Jeong. He smiled lopsidedly at her.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She almost sobbed in relief as she hugged him.

At the moment of contact, Yi Jeong could only react-the brush of her skin broke his resolve and overwhelmed his contained self-his hands sought the back of her neck and brought her closer, in a heartbeat, his mouth was upon her. He felt her stiffen in surprise. Kissing Ga Eul finally, after so many years and missed chances, was amazingly enough, exactly as he imagined. Her mouth tasted sweet from the jajangmyeon sauce, he felt the charge between them, the electric spark that flared as he felt her mouth move in response. The tension coiling within him released and he wrapped his arms around her slender back, securely, without options. The world dissolved away, leaving only the honied softness of her mouth, he had to slow down to savored every second. His hands buried themselves deep into her hair; he held her face, finding angles that pleased her and drawing her closer with every inhale.

Suddenly, there was air between the two of them. Ga Eul shoved him and he was unsurprised.

He felt the sting the slap before he saw it. Ga Eul's eyes were bright and her breath hitched unevenly.

"No!" She seethed. "This can't happen! Not now, not ever."

"Ga Eul. You still have feelings for me." He countered. "You can't deny it." Ga Eul was still shooting daggers from her eyes. "I know you."

Ga Eul grabbed Dong-won's hand and threw him a withering glance. "You don't know me Yi Jeong. You've been gone for four years. I'm not yours to have. Not anymore."

Yi Jeong felt all his joints lock for a moment, shell-shocked. She said that he didn't know her? How was that possible? She was the person that knew him the best. Why wouldn't it be a two-way street? His gaze landed on a wall that had an enormous scrawl that said, "Love Conquers All." He kicked the offending graffiti.

"Fuck!"

He lingered on the street only for a few more minutes before taking off, only the sound of his rubber soles slapping on the pavement made any sense. He had to find Ga Eul. Make things right again.

When he finally reached the library, Ga Eul was waving to Dong-won parents, who were departing with their little trouble maker. He walked behind her and stuffed his hands into his jacket. He didn't know what to say.

"I was wondering how long it would take you." She spoke without facing him.

"Ga Eul. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I just thought-" He cleared his throat.

"No. Yi Jeong, that wasn't it." Ga Eul finally turned around and tucked her hair behind her ears. "I don't think that I've been clear." Her syllables were crystal, her eyes steady. "I can't be responsible for you. I'm with Anders, and maybe if I explain what happened in Sweden, you'll understand." She met his eyes and he saw her face, stiff with anger. He nodded mutely.

"Yi Jeong-shi, I did wait for you." Surprised washed over Yi Jeong's face and his opened his troublesome mouth to comment. "No, please. Let me tell my story first." Ga Eul held her palm up like a barricade.

They walked over to the stone bench. Yi Jeong noticed that the afternoon sun was finally setting, outlining the leaves and branches with a dull gold. He glanced back at Ga Eul, whose face had frozen into a mask, and who was going to slice any hope left for them and serve it to him, cold upon a platter.

"Yi Jeong. I waited for three years because some part of me was so desperately in love with you. But, I don't think I ever knew you well enough to love the real you. You were always pushing me away and I loved whatever spare parts you were willing to give." She fidgeted with her phone.

"So last year, when I got that grant to study in Sweden, I jumped at the chance." She smiled wryly at him. "I don't know what I expected."

"Woo Bin gave me the address to your studio." Her gaze was distant now, seemingly focused on the same setting sun as Yi Jeong was, but she couldn't see how the golden light rippled and cast her face in shadows and light. Yi Jeong waited for the second boot to drop.

"I saw you through the window and you were so deep into your work." She chuckled and turned to ponder him. "I still remember the first time I saw you working, four years ago, here-you looked like nothing else existed around you, until you noticed me and then you said that all women fall in love with you after they watch you work." She crooked the side of her mouth. "I guess you were right."

"And then I saw-"

"Sophia." Yi Jeong's throat tightened. Dread filled his chest and he felt the solid weight of his heart begin to drop.

"That was her name." She looked at Yi Jeong who couldn't face her. "She was really beautiful."

"We studied together." He closed his eyes. He knew what was coming now.

"She came in and kissed you. And I remember thinking to myself 'pabo, what is it your business that Yi Jeong is with someone.'" Ga Eul was calm now. "And then you started to work. You started making this vase together and it was beautiful. You really understood each other. She got you. And you looked happy." Ga Eul swallowed and stood up from the bench. "That's all I've ever wanted for you Yi Jeong-shi, for you to find someone to make you happy."

She took a step forward from the bench but felt Yi Jeong's hand around her wrist.

"Ga Eul, wait. Sophia wasn't serious. We were just a little more than friends."

"Isn't that what we are?" Ga Eul shot back.

"No, Ga Eul. I came back, to make amends, to see if I had a chance with you again."

"Yi Jeong-shi. I've moved on." She turned slowly to see his eyes, red with regret, and his mouth twisted, ugly like a gargoyle. He looked desperate. She smiled sadly. "We have terrible timing."

"Just tell me why you love Anders more than you loved me." Yi Jeong managed to croak out.

"I don't think love is quantifiable, sunbae." She wanted more than anything to stop this torture. She didn't want to be the one stabbing a knife into his heart. But she had been able to let go of him once, and Yi Jeong needed this as much as she did. "Araso." She nodded. "I will tell you why."

"After I left your studio, I walked along the marina. You know how much I love sailboats."

Yi Jeong thought to himself that he actually didn't know that Ga Eul loved boats.

"I saw this man, just working away on a boat. He was cleaning the deck and he was so precise about everything. You know, getting everything ship shaped. I just got lost watching him make everything right. He saw me and called out 'Annyong hasaeyo.' Anders was the only person that I knew in Sweden that could speak Korean. We started talking about his boat." Ga Eul softened with the memory.

"Anders is so careful about everything. But he's the most careful with people." Ga Eul paused to looked at Yi Jeong's pained expression. "He was the right person at the right time, sunbae. He let me cry on his shoulder, he fed me food that was delicious, and he took me sailing." Ga Eul felt herself gathering steam. "The first time I was on the sea in that boat, I really understood what it was like to be part of that boat, to feel part of the water. He taught that two people can rely on each other, as a team. He was the skipper and I was first mate."

Ga Eul peeled his hand off her wrist, one finger at a time. "So you see, sunbae. Anders saved me when I was at my most miserable. It's so simple with him. He loves me, gives me hope, and wants us. How can I not love someone like that?"

Yi Jeong dropped his head.

"Sunbae, I won't be able to see you for a while."

He nodded.

"Good bye, Yi Jeong."

By the time Ga Eul had walked out of sight, the stars had dropped down from their perch and landed on their velvet resting places in the night sky. He thought the sun must love watching his misery; he lost both the women he loved, one at sunrise and one at sunset.

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A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review! Here is a preview of Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Bridezilla

Yi Jeong pounded the enormous pile of clay into submission. These days, nothing felt better than physical exercise. He could lose himself in the work, finding new ways to push himself. The more he imbued the physicality into his work, the more alive he felt. It was certainly different at night when he would lie alone, unable to sleep, replaying Ga Eul's words over and over again.

Maybe it was true that he didn't know her anymore. He was operating on old information. And maybe there was something to this Anders person that allowed Ga Eul to feel safe the way she never did with him. He made her insane, he could hear it between her carefully chosen words. When they came together, it was bright and fiery; but something that burned like supernova couldn't, wouldn't sustain warmth for humans. His laugh sounded acrid. He was so good with his hands when it came to art-when it came to clay. When it came to Ga Eul; his hands, his mouth, his body wanted nothing more than to possess her the way it did the piece of clay in his hand. He wanted selfishly wanted her like nothing else, the way he imagined her, the way he felt she was promised. But in light of the last few weeks, Yi Jeong found Ga Eul brittle, unyielding, and unwilling to bend to his will. She was a bad piece of clay. Maybe she was full of air and it was better now that everything was in shards so that he could start over again.

He slammed down the ball of clay and watched it flatten against the table. It was still the same clay, no matter how many different forms it took. Whether it was fired to a thousand degrees and covered in semi precious stone, it was still dirt, earth, matter. He thought about himself. Wasn't he the same-just a piece of dirt, prettied up with So family bloodlines and artistic talent? He wasn't that different from commoners, and wasn't the saying, common as dirt?

"So Yi Jeong!" Geum Jan Di banged on the door from the outside.


	8. Chapter 8 - Bridezilla Jian Di

**Chapter 8 - Bridezilla Jian Di**

Yi Jeong pounded the enormous pile of clay into submission. These days, nothing felt better than physical exercise. He could lose himself in the work, finding new ways to push himself. The more he imbued the physicality into his work, the more alive he felt. It was certainly different at night when he would lie alone, sleepless, replaying Ga Eul's words like a broken record.

Maybe it was true that he didn't know her anymore. He was operating on old information. And maybe there was something to this Anders person that allowed Ga Eul to feel safe the way she never did with him. He made her insane, he could hear it between her carefully chosen words. When they came together, it was bright and fiery; but something that burned like supernova couldn't, wouldn't sustain warmth for humans. His laugh sounded acrid. He was so good with his hands when it came to art-when it came to clay. When it came to Ga Eul; his hands, his mouth, his body wanted nothing more than to possess her the way it did the piece of clay in his hand. He wanted selfishly wanted her like nothing else, the way he imagined her, the way he felt she was promised. But in light of the last few weeks, Yi Jeong found Ga Eul brittle, unyielding, and unwilling to bend to his will. She was a bad piece of clay. Maybe she was full of air and it was better now that everything was in shards so that he could start over again.

He slammed down the ball of clay and watched it flatten against the table. It was still the same clay, no matter how many forms it took. Whether it was fired to a thousand degrees or covered in semi precious stone, it was still dirt, earth, matter. He thought about himself. Wasn't he the same-just a piece of dirt, prettied up with So family blood lines and artistic talent? He wasn't that different from commoners, and wasn't the saying, common as dirt?

"So Yi Jeong!" Geum Jan Di banged on the door from the outside.

Speaking of commoners, Yi Jeong thought as he opened the door.

"Anyohaseyo, sunbae." Jan Di actually looked a little scary leaning at the door frame of his studio. His best friend's fiancée was the one that broke through the F4 layer of isolationist noblesse oblige. She beat each of them into submission, into admiring her spirit, and mostly fearing her spinning kick of injustice. Jian Di was a force of nature when it came to love and loyalty, she was far better than Jun Pyo deserved. She crossed her arms and stalked in. He didn't remember ever seeing Jan Di in his studio, it was a little jarring.

She slammed the door shut and plopped down at his workbench. Slowly she folded her hands and rested her chin on them; she studied him with narrowed eyes.

Yi Jeong was puzzled by her scrutiny. All this posturing, what was it for?

"So Yi Jeong, you are still coming to my wedding aren't you?" She finally spat out. "Because Jun Pyo hasn't heard from you for weeks and he's too busy running Shinhwa to make sure that his best friend comes personally."

"Jan Di, when have I ever missed a good party?" He spread his arms nonchalantly and threw in a devastating smirk for good measure.

"Yi Jeong-shi," He felt the full force of the Jan Di initiative; so rarely in the past had he been part of her crusade. He felt uneasy. "Do you think you can fool anyone with that song and dance routine?" She crossed her arms and sniffed. "You don't go out anymore."

"Jan Di, believe it or not, even playboys need a break."

"You dress like someone who shops in the Dongdaemun district." She looked over his white t-shirt and dark Levis. Definitely more like a Korean James Dean than the dandy F4 she knew in high school. Rebel with a billion won inheritance.

He shrugged. "I'm trying out this new look."

"You don't hang out with Woo Bin."

"Woo Bin is too busy chasing girls to pay attention me."

"Of course, Jun Pyo and Ji Hoo are off in their own worlds-" She frowned at him. "What happened with Ga Eul?"

"Nothing." He grabbed another piece of clay and began working it in his hands.

"That's what Ga Eul said. But Yi Jeong," Jan Di's voice suddenly got quieter, "I want what's best for both of my friends. But, you have to see that Ga Eul's never been happier before. She and Anders might not be the most exciting couple in the world. Lord knows that no one has as many kidnappings, love triangles, and amnesia problems as Jun Pyo and I do." Jan Di rolled her eyes.

"You guys should fire the writers of your romantic comedy." Yi Jeong winked at her.

"It was terrible sunbae! I mean, I can laugh about it now, but those years were horrible. Just feeling crazy, never knowing how Jun Pyo really felt, and the waiting," Jan Di suddenly trailed off. "You can't eat feelings, Yi Jeong-shi. And those three years that Ga Eul waited for you, that's what she did."

Yi Jeong stopped the motion in his hands. .

"You know about her work right? Ga Eul always tries to find the good in people and now she has a way to really make a change, for the kids that need her. She couldn't just live on those feelings anymore Yi Jeong. She needed something real."

Yi Jeong thought about their conversation, about her brilliant smile when she thought of those kids in Eunpyung getting their computers. He felt a pang. To him, that auction was nothing but a way to get closer to Ga Eul. For her, it was the fulfillment for the dream of others. How far they had come, yet how far they had drifted. He was rudderless and she sailed towards some foreign land to which he had no map.

"The thing is, I want that for you too." Jan Di was saying. "You're the most talented person I know, but I don't know if you are doing what makes you happy or if it's because it's always been expected of you." She smiled wryly. "As a future F4 wife, I should know what all that lions of Korea, chaebol crap smells like. You're a chaebol, but you're still a man, Yi Jeong-shi. What do you want?"

"I thought I wanted Ga Eul." He stated simply.

Jan Di blew through her bangs. "I think you need to think about what Ga Eul wants, but first promise me you'll come to the wedding."

Yi Jeong ruffled Jan Di's hair. "Hey commoner, would I miss the wedding of the century?"

"Yah!" Jan Di swatted his arm. "Ga Eul is going to be there with Anders. So, you know, don't be a dick."

Yi Jeong snorted. "You know this means I have to bring some floozy."

"Or don't." Jan Di grabbed her lab coat and headed towards the door. "One week, be there or be square." She kissed the pad of her thumb and gave him a winning thumbs up.

"Dork." Yi Jeong smiled as he waved back. His phone began to ring.

"Father." Yi Jeong felt his anger chomping at the bit of his restraint.

"You're back Yi Jeong."

"Yes."

"You didn't think to inform anyone?"

"I didn't think you would leave me alone for so long." Talking to his father was always like stepping through a loaded minefield. But through the years, he learned to detonate first instead of waiting for the inevitable blow out. "How's my mother?"

"Nevermind that. She's the same. You are summoned to the So family stakeholders meeting. Tonight, 7pm in the museum board room." His father's voice droned on. Yi Jeong thought that he sounded exactly like the type of man who would have his insane wife committed.

"As you know, grandfather expects your return to mean that you've accepted the responsibilities of heading the So foundation."

"I am aware, father." He kept his voice clipped, calm, and he glanced at the unopened bottle of whiskey on the top shelf. "I am just taking some time to readjust from Sweden."

"Time is up, son." His father's voice almost had a gleeful edge. "Grandfather expects those business classes at INSEAD to pay off."

"I'll see you at 7PM." He locked his phone and let his chest sag; he was full of bitter words and retribution, none of which were appropriate nor efficacious. From his father's minimal input, his mother was functional. What her condition was, he could only guess at. He suddenly shrugged on his jacket and slammed the door of his studio.

Ga Eul woke up in a sheen of cold sweat. Yi Jeong was kissing her again. Except this time, it wasn't sweet and innocent like the dreams before. Yi Jeong's reappearance in her life meant that she had to deal with him as a body, as a person, and not as some romantic notion she could conjure when she needed it. Even in Sweden, she didn't get a chance to speak with Yi Jeong. She merely let go of the idea of Yi Jeong when it looked like he found another love. Now, she felt at a loss, the kiss reminded her about live wire between them; the scouring burst of heat she felt rising in her face when he gazed at her. She tried to scrub her mind, but her dream kept floating back up to the surface of her brain. Yi Jeong's hands, strong and rough, callused from clay, exploring her body. Yi Jeong's lips, demanding, sucking every breath she dared to exhale. Yi Jeong spreading her legs and fitting himself-

"Otoke!"

"Ga Eul?"

Ga Eul cringed.

Anders turned on the light and looked at her through his sleep dulled eyes. "Are you ok? Was it a bad dream?"

"No Anders. It was just a dream." She plopped herself back down on one elbow and looked down at him. She pushed aside the curly hair askew on his forehead. "I'm glad you're here, that's all."

"Hmm, that sounds suspiciously like you had one of those dreams about guys other than me." He tapped her on the nose. "This looks longer doesn't it?

"Yah! Don't make presumptions about what I think about." Ga Eul slapped away his hand, she was annoyed.

"Ga Eul," Anders sat up in bed and held Ga Eul's chin. HIs eyes were wide and searching; she could usually relax when she looked into their sea grass depth. But today, she felt a tightness in her stomach. "You've been acting a little weird."

"What? No! Besides, you're always off writing your dissertation."

Anders shrugged. "Sometimes, it's just gut." He paused and looked at her softly. "You know how I feel about you. But I also know that Yi Jeong was the reason I met you in Sweden. Surely, his coming back means something to you."

"That was a long time ago. And before I met you." Ga Eul flopped back down on her pillow. She turned to her side and Anders followed her and spooned her loosely. She tucked his arms onto her stomach.

"I know I'm a pretty awesome guy."

"And modest." She snickered back. He was silent for a moment.

"You don't have to lie to me. If you have feelings for Yi Jeong, that's ok."

Ga Eul froze. Anders sighed. "It's perfectly normal. I mean, do I wish that you didn't feel anything when you saw him? Of course I do. But the thing is, if you're honest with me, then no one will get hurt."

She turned around to looks at Anders. His eyes were downcast, so that she could see the thick cast of his eyelashes on his cheek. She tucked her head into his neck. She wasn't quite ready to face him when she talked something difficult like this.

"To be honest, I just don't think I was ready for how easy it all felt again." She played with his fingers, noting his short nails the white half moons. "But, that's nostalgia." She finally looked back up at Anders, who had closed his eyes. "I don't know him. Not the way I know you. Whatever it is I'm feeling, it'll go away."

"Ok Ga Eul. I trust you." His voices faded off, heavy with sleep.

Ga Eul turned back into her pillow and felt Anders sigh into a deep sleep against her neck. She whispered to herself silently, "Go away. I don't need you anymore."

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I love the feedback and encouragement. Of course, feel free to PM me with any issues you're curious about. I'm happy to answer. And of course, please review! Here's the preview for the next chapter:

**Chapter 9 - Mother**

Yi Jeong was never sentimental. The past ached where it should have been sweet, hurt when it should have soothed-he only remembered the chicory bitterness when it came to his memories. He let his gaze swim around the formal living room where his mother was receiving him. Nothing had changed since he left four years ago. Every Joseon dynasty vase stood exactly as it had a decade earlier.

Yi Jeong had long since moved out of his father's home, or more specifically, his grandfather's compound when he determined that sleeping at the studio reduced the number of times he would awake with his mother, a ghost above his bed, demanding retribution for some new violation of his father's. His first night of sleep in the studio passed without vengeful interruption and Yi Jeong never returned to his childhood home again.


	9. Chapter 9 - Mother

**Chapter 9 - Mother**

Yi Jeong was never sentimental. The past ached where it should have been sweet, scathed when it should have soothed-he only remembered the chicory bitterness of familial history. He let his gaze swim around the formal living room where his mother was receiving him. The So living room was frozen in time; every Joseon dynasty vase stood exactly as it had a decade earlier, the deep curves of the thick damask curtains might as well be carved out of marble for all the changes it had seen. Yi Jeong didn't miss this room, but its outline had been permanently etched in his memory-he checked the accuracy of his memory, like fitting trace paper over the original.

Yi Jeong had long since moved out of his father's home, or more specifically, his grandfather's compound when he determined that sleeping at the studio reduced the number of times he would awake to his mother, a ghost above his bed, demanding retribution for some new violation of his father's. His first night of sleep in the studio passed without vengeful interruption and Yi Jeong never returned to his childhood home again.

"Adeul!" His mother, Park Hae-Ryeon, named after Joseon dynasty royalty, floated into the room. He could tell from her glazed expression that she had mixed her serotonin reuptake inhibitors with soju for breakfast. He shuddered when she hugged him-her skin was papery and dry-she was lifeless as a toy. If he thought she was ethereally beautiful when he was a child, she'd become even more ghost like with age. Her fine bones had never seemed strong enough to support either he or his brother, they were never the fat babies on the hips of their mother. She was forever complaining of health problems. Yi Jeong did not remember his mother without complaint.

She was still a beautiful woman, preserved in the amber of her marriage. His mother glided into her seat opposite him and looked at him with her wide, blank eyes. She lurched forward, trying to control the movements of her arms.

"Yi-Jeong-ah." She offered him a cup of cold tea that had been awaiting her arrival. He raised the decorative cup, a finely wrought filigree with cranes flying on the side, and sipped politely. The tea set was nothing new, but he remember the first time he tried to make something that resembled the piece in his hand; it took him two years to get the shape.

"Umma." He offered a butter biscuit. She refused, naturally.

"You look different." She sipped her cold tea. Her eyes taking a quick calculation of his appearance. "Has your Appa given you money? Is there any reason for you to dress like the homeless?"

Yi Jeong chortled. Sometimes, his mother's directness was her only redeeming quality.

"Umma, don't worry. The So foundation trust is still mine."

"For now, Yi Jeong." The tea cup chattered against her teeth. She spat out the liquid and screamed. "Yah! This tea is cold!" She glared at one of the maids, her wrist slackened, and she let the cup splinter into shards. the floor. Hae-Ryeon made everything look elegant and intentional. Yi Jeong hadn't missed the dramatic rise in tension that his mother caused whenever she awoke from her drugged stupor, her tempest in a teacup temper that threatened everyone within radius.

"You don't think I've been watching out for you, Yi Jeong? As your mother, I am always watching." She clutched his hand, her eyes searching and empty.

"Umma. I know you watch out for me." He patted her hand and tried to make his voice as soothing as possible.

"That's because you're the only son that shows any of my bloodline."

"Is that so important to you?"

"Yi Jeong. You have Park blood running in your veins, far older and wiser than the So family. Maybe your father has forgotten how difficult it was for him to marry me?" She preened. "When he began to court me, I turned him down twice a day."

"I remember the story, Umma."

His mother wasn't listening to him, her eyes already taking the trip down memory lane. Hae-Ryeon's ego needed this, Yi Jeong knew that.

"Your father, came to the house everyday. Each day with a different dress, with a different piece of jewelry, hoping that one of them would tempt me." She leaned forward and caressed Yi Jeong's face. "You see, Yi Jeong, I wasn't interested in clothes. I wanted the man." She smirked at him. "So I made him wait, outside the house, everyday."

"Then what did you do?" Yi Jeong was well-practiced in this game.

"I said to your father that material things were vulgar. Only the transcendental would win me over."

"And then?" He settled back into his chair.

"Your father came one day empty-handed."

Yi Jeong knew all the beats, he made his face wide open with curiosity. "What did you say to him?"

"I was fascinated. Finally your father was doing something I hadn't seen before. He sat down and began to draw me. He told me that he would make a mask as beautiful as my face so that I refused him again, he didn't have to live without me."

"You believed him?"

"I thought he was lying. My mother, your grandmother, said that I had played too hard and that your father just gave up." Her eyes drifted around the room and settled on the ceramic piece in question. Hae-Ryeon's mask was eerily beautiful. The poreless surfaced matched her own, but the beatific expression rarely matched Hae-Ryeon's troubled face.

"But you know then I didn't see him for five months. I began to worry. I looked out my windows, saw the cherry blossoms fall, and still didn't see your father." Hae-Ryeon face reflected the turmoil she had felt. "It was the most the most perfect romance, Yi Jeong. I waited, I yearned, I held my heart in secret for him. You have no idea how eager I was to give it to him."

"You were in love with father." Yi Jeong repeated the beat that was expected of him. He couldn't stop looking at his mother when she was like this. She leaned on one hand, in rapture, swollen with the promise that Yi Jeong's father never fulfilled. It was all the past, but Hae-Ryeon had no choice but to live there. She couldn't face the corrupt present; a husband that she who cheated on her as easily as he ordered lunch. Her life, emptied of emotions, refilled with obligations she didn't want to fulfill, a son she was forced to disown, and Yi Jeong, her greatest joy. Yi Jeong felt the weight of her happiness around his neck, a heavy stone bound hung around him with the maternal love he knew he was lucky to have.

Of course, Hae-Ryeon didn't know that Yi Jeong's father didn't make the ceramic mask himself. No, the elder So woke up long enough from his drunken stupor to throw some directions at one of his willing craftsman. Yi Jeong's father hated the mask, it was the thing that cemented his dead marriage, it was a false promise made to a woman he didn't care about, and barely knew he was ruining. Yi Jeong remembered coming home late one night and spotting his father, staring at the mask, revulsion distorting his face. He had held the piece in both hands, intent snapping Hae-Ryeon's face in two. Yi Hyun, his brother, had stopped his father then. Yi Jeong heard the whole sordid story, hiding in the shadows of the enormous house. The mask was an imposter.

"Have you spoken to him?"

"He told me that the So family board meeting was tonight."

"Has he said anything to you about me?" She leaned in eagerly.

Yi Jeong closed his eyes and slumped back in the chair. He chose his words carefully. "Umma, I don't think it's good for you to think so much about Father."

"Why can't I depend on my husband?"

"Mother," he spoke slowly as if he were speaking to a child. "He's not a very good husband."

"So you see, Yi Jeong, you have to stay by my side." Her clapped onto him, unwavering. "I have no one in this family."

"Mother, you know I'm on your side." Yi Jeong's expression softened.

She smiled coldly. Her teeth clenched, she spat out her words softly his ear. "That's right. You were in Sweden when Yi Hyun married Eun Jae."

Yi Jeong took a sharp breath. He wasn't in love with Eun Jae anymore, but the thought of his brother not even telling him about his marriage-it was just as his mother wanted. He felt the bile rise in his mouth. Hae-Ryeon was a little too loose on her medication to be as skillful as she used to be. She slipped the knife in a little too soon, and Yi Jeong could feel the chilly blade in his gut.

"Of course, none of us knew." She sat back in her chair, comfortable now. "Eun Jae's family was against it. Her marrying the So son that didn't have a penny to his name." She peered at Yi Jeong for his reaction.

"I'm happy for them." Yi Jeong replied evenly and set down the cup of cold tea.

"Oh dear boy." She patted his hand. "Umma is here for you. There's no one in this family for you but me."

Yi Jeong looked steadily at his mother. "I will pay my respects to my brother and his new wife."

"Why would you do that?" Little tendrils of hair began escaping her neatly made chignon. "When he's betrayed you! Just like everyone in this family. That's why I say you're the only one with Park blood in your veins. Grandfather, your father, Yi Hyun, they don't have an ounce of sympathy for us."

"Mother, don't do this-"

"Why would your brother torture you by marrying your childhood best friend?" Hae-Ryeon got up rapidly from her seat and paced the length of the white carpet. "Why does your father flaunt his women in front of me? Don't you have a heart? Don't I have one too?"

She rose and stopped abruptly at the window, the length of exquisite box hedges stretched for hundreds of meters beyond the limits of the glass. Their sharp edges cutting clean lines into the garden in a dizzying array of paths, crisply leading nowhere. If someone followed the contours of the hedges, it would only lead the walker back to interior of the garden, the voluptuous illusion of an exit that tempted everyone who entered.

"We're weak Yi Jeong. We're too romantic." She folded her arms and turned back to look at her son. "When grandfather disowned Yi Hyun, how do you think I felt?"

She didn't wait for him to answer. "I was relieved." Her voice chilled to ice. "Your position was secured. Let me emphasize to you how important it is that you succeed. I gave my life to make sure that you would be heir. Everything else in my life has been a disappointment. Except you. You will not fail me. I want to be here to see you at the head of the family."

Yi Jeong got up from his chair and joined his mother at the window. "Umma. I came back to take my place."

"I don't think so." Her eyes were hard. "Yi Jeong, I know you've been back for a month. My husband said that you must have been too ashamed to see me. Because of my condition."

Yi Jeong shook his head slowly.

"A mother should never shame her children." She fell into thought for a moment before continuing. "I know I'm not well, Yi Jeong. Everyday, I wake up and I wonder why I still wake up. " Her voice was quiet. "The pain-I'm not sure how much I can take."

"Umma!" Yi Jeong felt the rush of words, he wanted to deny her pain, tell her that she need more therapy, more medication-he wanted to give her a solution. Suddenly, he felt very old. He had said all those things before. Hae-Ryeon didn't need to hear it again. Nothing he could say would would wash away the years of regret and tears. He had never heard his mother talk so candidly about her depression. She spoke like a weary soldier. "I just want to be left in peace." Suddenly she gripped his wrist tightly and whispered, "You can't let them lock me away."

"Umma," he pulled off her wrist and held her hands. "Can you be safe here?"

"Yes." She let his hand drop. "I've had enough of therapy, I have had enough of talking with doctors. Just let me exist. Like a human. Not locked up like an animal. After everything I've been through. Surely, I deserve that."

Yi Jeong nodded numbly.

"Yi Jeong-ah," She traced a pattern on the window pane. "Promise me that when you marry a woman, don't marry someone you love."

He looked at her hand, white against the window pane, the afternoon light shone through her fingers like an x-ray. She trembled. "Because, in this family, there's nothing but pain for a woman. That's the only thing you can do for me."

"Don't worry about that Umma. I'm not going to marry anyone."

A strange noise began in Hae-Ryeon's rib cage. It fermented to the surface and she cackled. "Dear boy! Do you think you have a choice? The So family will have an heir, whether you want it or not."

"Yi Jeong." So Hyun Sub, Yi Jeong's father, cleared his throat.

"Manura." His father bowed slightly to his wife. Hae-Ryeon bowed back stiffly.

"I think I'm tired." Her voice pitched an octave higher and she swayed out of the room. Both men's eyes followed her until she left. Yi Jeong turned back towards the window, at the same maze that his mother had contemplated on a thousand afternoons.

"You know that she needs help." His father said impassively.

"I'm sure that you know why."

So Hyun Sub was a weary man. Once upon a time, he was the shining pride and joy of the So family. His talent was the greatest in generations. Of course, those who flew higher had to fall harder. He leaned hard on his talent, his ego swelling as the accolades rolled in, but confronted with the fear of failure at the height of his stardom-Hyun Sub couldn't handle the fall. Alcohol and a woman who was far too kind became Hyun Sub's crutch.

Hyun Sub's father saw that his son had fallen to the wayside, even the woman who tried to help Hyun Sub was tainted by Hyun Sub's downward spiral. Grandfather So saw rot at the root and dug out the infection whole. He found the right woman, from the right family, who were overjoyed to have the So bloodline join theirs. Hyun Sub, of course, was too hindered by his problem to see that all his options vanished.

Once he finally woke up, once he saw the woman he loved being carted off for marriage in China, he lost all illusions of hope. Yi Jeong's grandfather made his terms certain, Hyun Sub could not be in the family if he wanted his woman, he would be cast out with the woman in question. His father muttered, "Lions can't eat grass. And sheep can't eat meat. On the wrong day, the lion will eat the sheep. You don't want that to happen, my son."

Any freedom of choice evaporated in the face of reality. When he heard that his lover died in China, Yi Jeong was ten years old, Hyun Sub saw his will and artistry crumble like weak porcelain. He produced second-rate ceramics because he didn't care. He didn't see the point.

"Son," Hyun Sub sighed, "she does not want to get well. Her problem can be treated."

"Then what? She won't be your problem anymore?"

"She is my problem." His voice grew more leaden. "But I have to think of our family. She's almost committed suicide twice. Your grandfather has managed to keep it out of the press. But if she does it again, it will ruin our family name. People will talk and they'll never leave you alone."

"Father, you are confused." Yi Jeong clenched his fist. "Mother's problems begin and end with you."

Hyun Sub slowly blinked."Four years." He ambled over to the bar cart and poured himself a whiskey, neat. He looked at the bottom of the familiar glass. "I've been her only caretaker for four years."

"Don't be ridiculous father. You hire people-"

"That doesn't mean I haven't been here." He took a sip. "The truth is, I feel sympathy for your mother. She was roped into this family like cattle and she came willingly. Stupid cow."

Yi Jeong lunged towards his father.

"Stop." Hyun Sub set down his glass. "She is as trapped as I am. I have chosen a life outside of this marriage. She could have. She could have ignored me, and all my transgression. Instead, she waits like a widow by a drowned husband. Waiting for him to come back."

"I was never that husband, Yi Jeong." He looked at his son, Yi Jeong was the spitting image of his beautiful mother. Talking to his son felt like talking to his wife-he couldn't keep the accusation out of his voice. "I went through all the motions to be expected. I fulfilled my end. She should be happy. She has not lifted a finger in thirty years."

"You dishonor your marriage once a month. You treat her like the hired help-you don't think that has anything to do with it?"

"No one gets everything they want. I can't help who I am." He shrugged. "Besides, I don't serve a purpose anymore. I have provided the So heir. I make ugly art. And I womanize. And twice a week, I talk to a crazy woman that's my wife."

"Am I suppose to feel sorry for you?" Yi Jeong's teeth ground in the back of his jaw.

"No. But maybe you can appreciate the impossibility of my predicament." Hyun Sub threw on his jacket. "Since, it will soon be yours. It's time Yi Jeong."

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I really love hearing what's interesting to my audience. Here is a preview of the next chapter.

Chapter 10 - Family

The air was chilly inside the conference room. Or mausoleum, as Yi Jeong liked to think of it. Yi Jeong was glad he kept his leather jacket on. He refused to change, even as his father gave him a lecture about proper presentation. For all the fault of the So men, the only thing they didn't err was tailoring. Everything fit snugly on their long bodies and wide shoulders. Hyun Sub had developed a paunch lately, but he was vain enough to hide it.

The long rectangular room had at its center a glassy marble table, the undisputed center of attention was demarcated by an elephantine leather chair. The chair was Yi Jeong's grandfather's by will and by right. Vases and vessels from all dynasties, worth more than a wing of the Louvre, lined the walls in dense rows. Each piece trapped behind a glass and sealed into certainty. Yi Jeong knew each piece by heart, it was his acquisitive nature to memorize beautiful things.

"Yi Jeong!"

He turned around to see Chae Yong Joon, an old Shinwha friend. Yong Joon had been ahead of Yi Jeong in school, a few years older, perhaps just as talented. Chae Yong Joon was also a competent ceramic artist.

"Yong Joon?" He was a little surprised. "What are you doing here?"


	10. Chapter 10 - Family

Chapter 10 - Family

Yi Jeong rubbed the tip of his nose, nearly numb. The air was chilly inside the conference room, or mausoleum, as Yi Jeong liked to think of it. He was glad he kept his leather jacket on. He refused to change, even as his father gave him a lecture about proper presentation. For all the fault of the So men, their native sense for true tailored clothes was unparalleled. Everything fit snugly on their long bodies and wide shoulders. Yi Jeong remembered his tailor from childhood, a stooped old man that taught him the fit of shoulders, the sit of a double-breasted suit, then he would give Yi Jeong a sweet rice cake for being patient toddler.

He smoothed down the weathered leather sleeve and felt the pleasure of being encased in something barbaric and wholly unrefined. Hyun Sub still wore his Italian merino suits with panache, but he was vain enough to ask the tailor for a longer jacket to hide his paunch.

The long rectangular room had at its center a glassy marble table, the undisputed center of attention demarcated by an elephantine leather chair. The chair was Yi Jeong's grandfather's by will and by right. Vases and vessels from all dynasties, worth more than a wing of the Louvre, lined the walls in dense rows. Each piece trapped behind glass and sealed into certainty. Yi Jeong knew each piece by heart, it was his acquisitive nature to memorize beautiful things.

"Yi Jeong!"

He turned around to see Chae Yong Joon, an old Shinwha friend. Yong Joon had been ahead of Yi Jeong in school, a few years older, perhaps just as talented.

"Yong Joon?" He was a little surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"It's good to see you back from Sweden, So Yi Jeong." Yong Joon bowed slightly. "I've been working for your grandfather since you left to study abroad."

"Do you like it?" Yi Jeong crossed his arms.

"Of course, it's an honor." Yong Joon laughed. "But I would be lying if I didn't say that it's challenging work."

"Challenging is a pretty nice word for endless." Yi Jeong finally sat down as Yong Joon finished distributing the meeting notes around the conference table. "I remember interning here during Shinwha." He didn't remember those days too fondly, but he kept the nonchalantly smile on his face. Father hadn't cared either way, but Yi Jeong's mother was the one that pushed for the opportunity. Hae-Ryeon might have been a little unhinged about her cheating husband, but she was always clear-eyed when it came to her favorite son.

Yi Jeong had spent a long summer, meticulously cataloging every international transaction of the museum. It was duller than watching Ji Hoo at a tear-jerker movie. Even though he had everything he could want in Korea, just seeing the names of cities: Marrakesh, Ankara, Chengdu, Osaka, Bangkok, Düsseldorf, filled him with buoyant wanderlust. The names of those cities, ones with full voluptuous vowels, or ones that had barely aspirated consonants stirred the sleepy eye he turned towards the world.

Before he left for Sweden, he felt Korea to be too easy. Korea was routine. Korea was to be expected. He knew every groove of transaction, every gesture of polite company, every curve in Seoul's hilly landscape. He felt himself repeat the transactions of his life, recited as many times as a monk's prayer, without understanding his intentions. Everything always came too easily to him, thus he never exerted himself; he didn't appreciate the serendipity of opportunity, the rarity of a chance meeting, the luck involved in finding things like soul mates. He felt like a weed, growing in the black loamy soil of someone's carefully cultivated garden, stealing all the nutrients from other plants that needed to work so hard to survive.

Korea had not stayed the same for him. Seoul crawled out of its cocoon, spread its wings and slowly fanned out across Asia as it grew hungry for international fame, greedy for more admirers and money. He saw more and more of Korean influence abroad, and he found fascinating how a few successful dramas and pop songs could turn throngs of women into hellish romantics when it came to those strange sparkly figureheads of Korean entertainment. Was this change for the better? He didn't know.

"Yi Jeong!" A great voice boomed in the room. So Ok Gyun, Yi Jeong's grandfather, barged in the conference room like conquering tyrant. He was an ample man at seventy-five, who marched more than he walked. A thinning pate of silver-grey hair surrounding his stout head. He looked more like a grumpy lion, but Yi Jeong knew that Ok Gyun's friendly demeanor never betrayed the unbending steel shot through his spine. No one wanted to be on the old lion's bad side.

"Grandfather." Yi Jeong bowed.

"Your father said you'd be here today." Grandfather's voice filled every corner of the room. "We've been looking forward to your arrival."

"Thank you, Grandfather." Yi Jeong felt So Ok Gyun's gaze, but it wasn't all critical. Suddenly, he heard the old lion make a low sound in his belly. Ok Gyun was laughing. "I sent a young chaebol to Sweden and I get a ruffian in return?" The great man hugged his prodigal grandson.

"I find this makes me less conspicuous in Seoul." Yi Jeong warmed his voice at his grandfather's teasing. "This way, I understand our audience at Woo Song, what they want-"

"Do you think that the masses really know anything about beauty? About this?" Ok Gyun clapped his hands together and pitched one meaty fist towards the southern wall. "This, that, all of this, is incomprehensible to most people. Ordinary people have no eye for beauty. It has to be cultivated, educated, coaxed out of the mud like a flower." Ok Gyun turned to Yi Jeong and slowly enunciated. "And if ordinary people are lucky, they get to go to a museum like ours and learn about something exquisite for a beautiful hour. Something that stands out like a lotus blossom in their muddy life."

"Their taste is not all bad."

"Taste?" His grandfather snorted like Yi Jeong's words had stopped in his nose. "Taste is dictated by fashion. Who cares about fashion? This kind of beauty is timeless." His grandfather stopped pacing."What's this piece?"

Yi Jeong noted the elegant thin neck, the fat extended bottom, the feminine curves delicately shaded with a sea green glaze. The proportions were mythic, carved into man's ancient memory. "A Goryeo dynasty vase, made in the 13th century." Yi Jeong drew upon his internal catalogue.

"What type of ceramic is it?" Ok Gyun's barked out.

Yi Jeong didn't flinch at the sound of his grandfather's command. He was used to this endless round of testing. Like clay that molded for the kiln, Yi Jeong could stand the heat. He saw the tiny blossoms laid in precise margins along vase, the painstaking details emerging only after hundreds of hours of precise labors. "Inlaid celadon."

"Who as it created for?"

"Most likely royalty. Inlaid work takes hundreds of hours of additional labor," Yi Jeong could feel the work of the faceless worker; the man used the sanggam, the only way to produce a motif of depth and inlaid color on the vase. He would carve the surface of the clay, the flowers appearing only after each depression completed; each hole filled with black or white slip. He took care not to ruin the bottle's crane-like neck. The workman must have stared at the same piece, cross eyed with concentration and sweat threatening to ruin his work. After days, maybe it was ready for the first brush of green grey glaze. But here again would be challenges renewed. The craftsman would have to retain the calm symmetry of shape and burnish the surface of visible flaws. These were opposite intentions. One ill-timed workbench bump could tip the vase towards ruination. Instead, the Goryeo vase stood, proudly with the effort of its master, without a fault to the discernible eye. "It would have to be for someone exceptional."

"Exactly, Yi Jeong. This type of work was made for someone exceptional." Ok Gyun smiled, showing all his teeth. "It was made for someone like you. The public is just lucky we share this with them."

Yi Jeong nodded stiffly.

"Father!" Hyun Sub entered the room. Yi Jeong looked at his father, who held his arms stiffly, as Ok Gyun gave him a steady look. Behind Hyun Sub, a stream of patriarchs, stood ready to accept Yi Jeong. They smiled blandly at Ok Gyun's grandson, ready for whatever initiative the old lion might give his grandson. Yi Jeong bowed deeply towards the shuffling grey mass settling into familiar seats like chessmen aligning on a board.

Yi Jeong flipped through the thick financial forecast of the So foundation. It had been a long time since he thought about the So foundation. It was the largest albatross around his neck-hanging with the smaller birds of his mother and his guilt towards his brother-he ignored it because it was an inevitability.

Yi Jeong made a few highlights and dog-eared the page he wanted to return to; he didn't understand one odd chart and wanted to make sure to review its contents thoroughly. By the time he glanced up, Hyun Sub's speech had shifted into high gear. His father was a brilliant showman, whose impeccable patrician tone would kill the doubts of the listeners. The rest of the So board hung on every word as he leaned on the podium and threw great energy into the next five minutes.

"When my honorable father, So Ok Gyun, first opened the Woo Song Museum, he had intended it on being the ultimate authority in ceramics." Hyun Sub walked around the room and stopped at the same celadon vase. He looked on the piece with the same detached interest in beauty that ran deep in his family.

"Thirty years ago, we housed the largest collection of Korean ceramics in the country. Twenty years ago, we expanded our curatorial horizon to other countries. Masterpieces from China, Japan, Thailand, and even Africa fill the illustrious halls of Woo Sung." Hyun Sub saw the board members nod in recognition."And now, twenty years later we can say that we're not only one of the greatest ceramics museums in the world, but the greatest art museum in Korea."

Hyun Sub pressed his mouse and a picture of So Ok Gyun filled the illuminated screen. He stood, larger than life, fifty years earlier, in front of a small building, a low flat warehouse as unassuming as a car wash. Ok Gyun was twenty kilos lighter, his thick brush of hair sprung from his forehead, as vital as any young blood. Yi Jeong saw his grandfather's louche posture as a man on the verge of his destiny, in this case, a young man who would remake the art world in Korea.

Yi Jeong had never seen this picture before; he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, suddenly confronted by Ok Gyun's sheer fortitude and tenacity that built, brick by brick, beam by beam, the grandiose Woo Song of today. He suddenly longed to understand his grandfather. From his seat at the end of the marble top, Ok Gyun looked very far away. Yi Jeong glanced at his hands, rough with clay work, yet they looked untested and babyish next to the builder of Woo Song.

"Father's legacy is one that can be only matched by the longevity of his unerring guidance. Now, while I am spearheading the 80th anniversary celebration committee, I feel that my son, So Yi Jeong, should be tasked with one of the specialized exhibitions."

Yi Jeong bowed in his seat. He was a little surprised to be given public opportunity so soon. He had at least expected a few week of form introductions and ceremony.

"But, with the financial difficulties of the last few quarters, we will have to be more creative about acquiring these pieces." Hyun Sub's voice skipped over the last few words of his statement. Yi Jeong glanced around the table and he was surprised to see that none of the grey faced men looked shocked by his father's declaration of financial insolvency. Yi Jeong felt a strange feeling creep into his gut. The So foundation was losing money? Yi Jeong tried to think back to the days of his internship. In those days, the amount of international transaction seemed insurmountable-he had almost assumed that the So family had a bottomless coffer for acquisition.

"Chae Yong-Joon will present some of our contingency plans for the nearby future."

His head snap up in surprise. Yong Joon was in charge of financing while he was only in charge of a token exhibition? Yi Jeong began to feel the pressure of the room turn away from him, redirected towards Yoon Joon. The patriarchs shuffled their papers and slowly murmured consent.

"Esteemed So board members, please start at page 5, where I have outlined a very aggressive tax benefits plan, as well as some new austerity measure we can consider for this meeting." Yong Joon changed the illuminated screen from a picture of Ok Gyun to a maze of tables.

Yi Jeong heard the chill in Hae-Ryeon's warning rattling at the base of his skull. He looked at Hyun Sub, who was studiously avoiding eye contact, and his grandfather, thoroughly absorbed in Yong Joon's plan. Yi Jeong pondered the thick papers in front of him and felt a sharp pain in his index finger, the paper cut of the presentation drew first blood.

Ga Eul groaned. She was at Opening Ceremony, the New York store that recently launched a Seoul branch. Jian Di had dragged her there after reading an article in Elle Korea. The store was odd, instead of the usual bubblegum colors that Jian Di preferred, Opening Ceremony was rustic and unusual, like something fit for a quirky bride. She finally worked the complicated zipper over her hip and pushed aside the thick dressing curtain.

"Ah Ga Eul!" Jan Di shrieked. "This is the perfect color for you!"

"Aiishi, Jan Di!" Ga Eul covered her ears. "I want to have hearing in my old age, you know!"

"I can always prescribe you a hearing aid." Jan Di shrugged. "This must be the fiftieth dress we've tried on, but you actually left it on for more than a minute." She exhaled. "Ga Eul, you look amazing."

"If you like it, then I'll take it." Ga Eul shook off the dress and handed it to a shop girl who returned a few moments later, the Marc Jacobs frock already neatly boxed and packed into a shopping bag.

The shop girl bowed like a graceful willow and held out the bag. "Thank you for shopping at Opening Ceremony."

"Oh, I haven't paid for it yet." Ga Eul frowned at the bag hanging from her hand.

"Ugh, Jun Pyo! I swear he has secret shoppers watching me." Jian Di winced, a little embarrassed that her fiancée's over coddling had spilled over to Ga Eul.

"Cause that's not creepy at all." Ga Eul raised an eyebrow at her.

"Listen Ga Eul, when you find a weirdo to call your very own, you have accept some of their eccentricities. Or else, life is one endless fight."

A loud ring rattled both the girls and the shop girl suddenly threw a cell phone into Jian Di's hand like a hot potato.

"Yah! Who are you calling a weirdo?" Jun Pyo's voice crackled out of the receiver.

"You again." Jian Di grimaced. "For someone who has no time to see me, you sure have a lot of time to spy on me."

Ga Eul saw Jian Di grimace at Jun Pyo's response.

"Whatever." Jian Di started pacing around the shoe display, artfully constructed out of birch branches and silk draping. She almost tripped over one of the graceful extensions. "How about I see your face sometime? When it's time for the wedding, I'm going to walk towards the wrong guy because I don't even know what you look like anymore."

Jian Di rolled her eyes as her boyfriend's indignant squawk soon turned into a tirade of poorly aimed insults. Jian Di excused herself to sit at the store's coffee bar and Ga Eul sat back down at the couch to wait out their historically tiresome verbal battle. When she finally returned, Jian Di collapsed on the couch and stretched out in her scrubs. Her dark pink sneakers peeked out from her baggy drawstring pants.

"Ga Eul. I'm so tired."

"I bet." Ga Eul rubbed her friend's temples.

"Oh, that's good." Jian Di closed her eyes. "I just wish that weddings didn't take so much work. That's it. I'm going to call Jun Pyo and we're eloping in Vietnam."

"Nope, you can't. Your fiancée already bought my bridesmaid dress. I guess you could let Madam Kang do all the work." Ga Eul smirked.

"She hates me." Jian Di wiggled her feet. "And I'm sure if she organized it, no one I cared about would be able to come to the wedding."

"She'd probably have the wedding in the Congo."

"Exactly, so no one would know that Jun Pyo married a little miss nobody." Jian Di let a note of anger creep into her voice. "Ga Eul, I wish that I like that woman more, but I have to be honest, she takes every opportunity to make me feel like persona non grata." Jian Di finally righted herself on the couch and started picking the lint from her winter coat.

"Geum Jian Di, it should just be enough that you love her son. And if you can't find anything good about Madam Kang, then it's probably best just to keep your distance."

"Ugh, it's my mouth. I never say the right things." Jian Di blew air through her bangs.

"That famous Jian Di mouth is the one that broke up the F4, remember?"

Jian Di started laughing. "Do you remember how impressed we were when we first saw all four of them together?" Ga Eul saw her friend, convulsing and pink with laughter, tears squeezing out of the corners of her eyes. "The first time I saw Jun Pyo, that curly hair and the stupid jackets, I thought he looked ridiculous! And omgosh, the four of them would walk through Shinhwa, pretending it was Reservoir Dogs. I asked Jun Pyo about it later, and he told me that the four of them would practice that walk in the rec room!"

Ga Eul began imagining Ji Hoo, Woo Bin, Jun Pyo, and Yi Jeong, strutting their stuff in the rec room mirror. She couldn't hold back the giggle that bubbled forth. They were like a boy band without any talent.

"Jian Di, you forget, Yi Jeong was the one I met first. Then we all went on that trip to islands."

Jian Di finally wiped away the moisture on her face and stopped hiccupping. "I remember now." She frowned for a second. "How did Yi Jeong know you?"

"I have no clue. He practically ripped the apron from me at the porridge shop and told me you and Jun Pyo had gotten into an accident so that I would follow him." Ga Eul lifted her shoulders. "He does have this weird romantic streak you know? Yi Jeong worked harder than anyone to bring you guys together; even though he knew the cards were stacked against you."

"Yeah, it's too bad that Yi Jeong's a chaebol, or you guys might have had a real chance." Jian Di picked up a python stiletto and frowned at the price tag.

"What do you mean?" Ga Eul was suspicious.

Jian Di wagged the shoe at Ga Eul. "I know a thing or two about those old money families. And I know you. You don't like the all the pretension, you don't like being told what to do, and you definitely didn't like Yi Jeong's father."

Ga Eul protested. "There's also Anders!"

"I'm just saying, in a world where Yi Jeong wasn't a chaebol, you would have fallen in love with him, hearts in your eyes and the whole shebang." Jian Di put on a hair ornament and batted her eyelashes at Ga Eul. "I might be invited to a Yi Jeong Ga Eul wedding instead of having to half-ass my own."

Ga Eul felt herself sit up in alarm; Jian Di was still picking amongst the overpriced shoes like she hadn't dropped her revelation like an emotional bomb. She was oblivious to her friend's collateral damage. Ga Eul felt the freshly formed tightness in her chest, present ever since Yi Jeong kissed her.

"But, that's not the only reason!" She spluttered. "I don't want a relationship like my mother and my father. I know my dad loves my mom, but he's so stoic. It drives her insane! Even after twenty years of marriage, she's still so insecure about her husband, even though it's obvious to everyone else how much he loves her." Ga Eul swallowed hard. "Jian Di, I'm a lot like my mom. I need someone to love me, without reservations and without fear. I don't want to always be reaching for the other person." Ga Eul gripped the bag even tighter to her chest. "You can never win with Yi Jeong. I would take two steps forward, and he would run in the other direction. If you really want to see how fast a chaebol can sprint, just tell him that you like him and he'll run to the nearest Scandinavian country!"

Seeing Ga Eul's nerves clearly written on her body and face, Jian Di's eyes opened wide with worry. "Ga Eul, I was just teasing you. I know that Yi Jeong and you are, complicated."

"He kissed me when we went on that school auction date."

"He didn't!" Jian Di laid a palm on her forehead. "Ugh, that pabo."

"I feel so guilty." Ga Eul threw her face into her hands. "Yi Jeong and I kissed, then Anders tells me that it's ok if I have feelings for Yi Jeong."

"Anders said that?"

"What if it means that Anders doesn't really love me?"

"No no, it's the opposite." Jian Di smoothed back Ga Eul's hair. "He's telling you that if you have feelings for Yi Jeong, that you don't have to lie to protect him. I can't imagine Jun Pyo ever saying the same thing without exploding into a billion pieces."

"I know. I don't want Anders to be angry over something that happened five years ago, but then again, I'm so surprised when he's not angry. What's wrong with me?" Ga Eul gripped her cellphone close. "I know what's wrong with Yi Jeong, he's selfish and arrogant."

"I don't think Yi Jeong knows how serious things are with you and Anders." Suddenly, Jian Di was quiet. "I wish it were enough, Ga Eul. I wish Madam Kang would just see how much Jun Pyo loves me and I love him. I know we fight all the time, but we're really happy together. I know I make him happy."

"That should be enough right?"

"Sometimes, no, actually, all the time, I wish Jun Pyo weren't a chaebol. That he didn't have the weight of thousands of people's jobs on him. Or that he isn't the target of all this attention. And I know, that's me being selfish. Because I want him all to myself, and I have to share him with so many people."

Ga Eul looked at Jian Di's longing expression and she understood more clearly now than ever that a simple world didn't exist for Jun Pyo or Yi Jeong. They would always belong a little more to the world than the people who loved them. The macrocosm of the their world made her feel like a tiny actor on a stage, heedless of so many hidden moving parts behind the curtains, she felt lost even attempting to understand Jian Di's paradox. If she had to go through the same trial by fire, the same grievous scrutiny that Jian Di endured at Shinwha, Ga Eul was sure she would have quit her crush on Yi Jeong a long time ago. A quiet voice in her though, paused at this new assertion, and whispered that she wavered more on that point than she would like.

She felt a low vibration in her skirt pocket; her mother's face floated up to the caller ID screen.

"Yobseo?"

"Aiishi, Ga Eul, the old kimchi pot finally broke! I was planning on making kimchi tomorrow; all the cabbage is ready and soaking!"

"Oh no! All the cabbage will be ruined if we don't get another pot." Ga Eul grimaced, but Jian Di waved her hand nonchalantly. "Mom, that ceramics market on the edge of town, let's go there."

"Alright, where are you dear daughter? I'll come pick you up."

Ga Eul mouthed a "I'm sorry" to Jian Di; her friend shrugged and hugged her back. On the way out the store, she saw her friend Jian Di hesitantly look at a black Amex card in her palm. Jian Di's face still looked troubled, but she slide the card slowly over the counter to pay for the pair of sparkly shoes in her hands.

* * *

A/N: I must have the smartest readers. Thank you for all the reviews and insightful commentary, especially to the reader that pointed out the makjang elements (definitely a genre I'm working in). Please review chapter 10. Thank you from a deeply grateful author.

Chapter 11 - Onggi

Yi Jeong exhaled slowly and squeezed his eyes shut at the first tremor of a migraine, biding its time at the base of his skull. The migraine shared rent with Hae Ryeon's maternal haranguing, exchanging ways and means to make Yi Jeong more miserable. He reached into the far recesses to find something smooth and supple so that he could glide around the migraine monster, something to rebraid his frayed nerves. Behind the dull drumming of pain, he saw a hill of cool white snow, Ga Eul's face smirking, her eyelashes lifted towards the mountain and laughing. His arms were around her. He remember the sickening dread when it looked like she was about to be viciously pummelled by a careless snowboarder. He had caught her, scared of any possible of injury to Ga Eul, but she was laughing like she had won the lottery. Yi Jeong let the memory sooth him before the all the discoveries of the day begun to fling themselves, unwelcomed, in his conscience.


	11. Chapter 11 - Onggi

**Chapter 11 - Onggi**

Yi Jeong exhaled slowly and squeezed his eyes shut at the first tremor of a migraine, a cur biding its time at the base of his skull. The migraine shared rent with Hae-Ryeon's maternal haranguing, exchanging ways to make Yi Jeong more miserable. He reached to find a memory that was smooth and supple so that he could re-braid his frayed nerves. Behind the dull drumming of pain, he saw a hill of cool white snow, her face smirking, eyelashes lifted towards the mountain and laughing. His arms were around Ga Eul. He remember the sickening dread seconds before a careless snowboarder almost pummeled her. He felt the fear, cold in his gut, her eyes were closed, but then her thick eyelashes fluttered open and she laughed like she had won the lottery. Yi Jeong let the memory sooth him before the all the discoveries of the day flung themselves, unwelcomed, in his conscience.

The financial problems at Woo Song were worse than he imagined. For nearly ten years, Woo Song tittered at the edge of financial failure, they carried more debt than the museum could possibly raise or produce in the future. The unassailable armada of the So Trust was a mirage, hiding the leaky rowboat that Hyun Sub and Ok Gyun were desperately patching. Yi Jeong saw through all the boisterous promises for the future. The So Trust was tightening its belt, even as Ok Gyun's birthday celebration was under way. The grey faced men of the board only nodded along to Hyun Sub's flashy presentation, which spoke volumes about the lack of funds by its very omission. Bread and circus, Yi Jeong thought, as his mouth coated with a sour taste. He was going to be the captain of a ship that was already underwater.

His mother and Hyun Sub avoided the subject of money like a contact disease. The So wealth was already comfortably secured before Hyun Sub was born and his mother's family had money older than the republic of Korea, his parents' hands never dirtied with the thought of, the distribution of, or the creation of money. Hae-Ryeon probably never counted out change in her life; the immense Park wealth could be seen in Hae-Ryeon's precise social graces, her thick silk blouses spun from silkworms that probably had more pedigree than Jian Di, and the kind of deep malaise only the truly indolent understood. He was the third generation, twice removed from the making of money. When he was younger, he thought that money was a renewable resource, like the sun or water.

He sat in his studio, the thick proposal that Chae Yong-Joon had presented ripped into five different sections, each inch of paper was thickly underlined and cross referenced with colored tabs. Staring dumbly at the same chart that had puzzled him at the meeting, Yi Jeong's mind saw numbers float in front of his eyes and then slipped away like a fish. No amount of corporate finance at INSEAD prepared him for this. He felt like he was five years old again, trapped in the box hedge maze of his grandfather's house. It simply didn't add up; the attendance at Woo Song had only increased in the last decade, their fund raising activities had kept pace with all the other museums in Korea. Why the leaky boat? Why the dire financial forecast?

Yi Jeong remembered the great weight of the So Trust on his shoulder as soon as he turned ten years old and Grandfather Ok Gyun determined that his older brother lacked the artistry and skill to be the face of the family. Maybe it was lucky that Yi Hyun was forced out of the family. He made a good living as the owner of a cafe, freed from familial obligation, and living with Eun Chae. He was happy. Yi Jeong winced. For more times that Yi Jeong liked to admit, he envied his brother. After all, he had gotten to marry the woman he loved; Hae-Ryeon didn't have to explain to him that all women who married into the So family were doomed.

He slid down in his chair and his eyes landed on the ceramic vase that Woo Bin and he used as a bet over for a girl's number. The vase sat comfortably in the neighborhood of ten million won; it didn't look markedly different than factory produced items, but it was the slight imperfections of hand work that added up to a perfect whole. As his chin hit his chest, Yi Jeong forgot his admiration and focused on the possible returns. The vase looked like two weeks of operation costs at Woo Song. How many similar pieces could he unload onto the market?

Chae Yong Joon's plan was a good plan, he targeted the weakest part of the Woo Song portfolio, suggesting that they sell the weaker currency bonds and unload the devaluing Japanese stocks. Then, he felt a small cut of injury, inflamed by slights and misinformation, kindled into a burst of anger. Yi Jeong felt hot, furious that his father never let on that the foundation was in dire straits. He seethed that his grandfather relied on a wet behind the years Chae Yong Joon to carry out his plans. Yi Jeong grabbed his leather jacket and metro pass. He needed air.

The open air onggi market was frigid in November. The Chae women, Ga Eul and her mother, Shin-Hye, exhaled little plumes of white air vapors. They passed by a small fire with chestnuts snapping at the heat on their metal grate bed. The toasted smell of roasting nuts filled Shin-Hye's nostrils and her stomach reminded her that lunch was five hours ago. The market laid wide, made of narrow warrens, built by clay vessels of every shape and hue; they created a strange low city. The people looked like giants, walking among the little city's walls; the denizens of this clay city were the inscrutable housewives, who played their interest in each household item like a high stakes poker game. Every so often, a merchant screeched a clearance special, but mostly the market was full of experts that knew exactly what they wanted and who to get it from. The housewives of Seoul didn't mince words lightly when it came to the onggi pot. Three jars of onggi, almost chest high, could provide an entire family a winter's worth of preserved vegetables. Kimchi could not be taken lightly. Shin-Hye saw her daughter bargaining with the ahjussi, but she could hear from Ga Eul's voice that she was one minute away from kicking the onggi merchant somewhere painful. The flicks of spittle on the man's chin collected into a rivulet, Ga Eul grimaced and shot back with a lower price—Shin-Hye hurried over—the man was one more violent outburst from a rainstorm of spit. Her daughter hated bargaining, but it was polite to bargain with the merchant. It showed them that you weren't soft.

Shin-Hye, an energetic woman in her fifties with a permanent that was more helmet than hair, treasured the time with her only child. Ga Eul puzzled her. Her daughter day dreamed about soul mates during high school, but Shin-Hye thought that puberty and all its excess would bring a sense of girly wisdom. Instead, as Ga Eul got prettier, she might as well have gotten better at science for all the womanly wisdom she acquired. Then for a few months, her daughter had a crush that she didn't want to talk about. When that crush ended, Ga Eul's romantic yearnings seem to take on a pragmatic finish.

After college, she thought that Ga Eul would be more like the girls of her generation when she secured her prestigious teaching job. After all, Ga Eul was a government worker who looked she could be a fresh faced catalogue model, a model wife of every red-blooded Seoul man. Shin-Hye had daydreamed about a string of adorable suitors that her daughter would bring home, and she would turn her gimlet eye on these men if they dared to be step out of line.

Instead, Shin-Hye had to cajole her friends for suitable sons, her family for likely connections; she harangued her husband for co workers. Ga Eul politely went out with every one, but Shin-Hye knew that her daughter went through the motions without any real intention. Up until a year ago, Shin-Hye feared that Ga Eul would be a leftover woman. Her daughter enjoyed her work like other girls would enjoy trips to a shaved ice parlor; this only prompted Shin-Hye to worry more that her little one's happiness could be stifled if she never found love or family. Then Ga Eul met Anders, and to Shin-Hye's own great surprise, she liked foreigner; he was handsome like many westerners, but that wasn't the reason. Shin-Hye caught Ga Eul in one of her shy moods with Anders, a secretive expression that was meant for no one else than her boyfriend. This made Shin-Hye's stop in surprise, she recognized that face, it was the same look on her face twenty-six years ago when she first saw Ga Eul's father.

"Omoni," Ga Eul was saying.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening." Shin-Hye blinked back into the present.

"I finally picked out my bridesmaid dress today."

"Really," Shin-Hye smiled, "what does it look like?"

"Hmm, I don't think you would like it, but Jian Di does." Ga Eul paused at new stall, filled with heavy white porcelain, impractical for pickling vegetables.

"Well, whatever Jian Di wants. After all this planning, Ga Eul, does it make you think about weddings in the future?"

Ga Eul grimaced. She could feel her mother's subtlety from a mile away.

"It's nice to help Jian Di because she's so busy with her residency." Ga Eul shrugged. "I can't complain about trying on a few more dresses when she's operating on children."

"But my dear, it's not like you're not busy too." Shin-Hye pressed on. "But, doesn't this wedding make you think about, maybe, your own?"

"Aiishiii omoni! Why do you keep bringing that up? I told you, I don't know if I want to get married." Ga Eul groaned and walked to the next stall.

Shin-Hye remembered when Geum Jian Di attended the Shinwha academy. Her daughter's face puckered with bitterness when she talked about a group of "rich jerks" who bullied Jian Di with pranks and public shaming. Shin-Hye noted wistfully that Ga Eul didn't seem to have a fascination with marrying a rich husband, like the daughters of other mothers, soybean paste girls. After all their money went towards designer clothing and purses, all they could afford to eat was soybean paste. No, her daughter was not that kind of a girl.

When Ga Eul was born, she was a serious baby that would only laugh when her father blew out his cheeks like a puffer fish. Shin-Hye's felt the corners of her mouth tug back at the image. She glanced at Ga Eul, who was stood at the edge of a stall, investigating a huge onggi with the design of a fish on the side. Her husband was a stiff man around everyone except his infant daughter. When Ga Eul grew up, he receded more into his shell as she became more and more independent. He distanced himself from his daughter the same way he distanced himself from everyone else. But for a few brief years, Shin-Hye's memories of Ga Eul and her father were warm, as cozy as thick woolen mittens.

Ga Eul stomped around the next stall, fuming that her mother had all but asked for a wedding date. Truthfully, she did not know exactly know what was going to happen in the next few months with Anders. He would be finished with defending his dissertation in December, right around the time of Jian Di's wedding to Jun Pyo. They had avoided the subject, dancing around its implications, and part of Ga Eul knew that whatever happened in December was likely to determine the rest of her relationship with Anders. She dreaded it. There was always a lingering voice in the back of her head that wished he was Korean, because as much as he loved Seoul, his people and his home would always be Sweden. She didn't want to push him away just because she doubted that he would be happy. She licked her lips and felt the chapped skin. She didn't know what to do.

"Ga Eul."

Shocked, she bit down on her lip and felt the air punched out of her chest. She contemplated running back to the car. No, she was an adult. She had to turned around.

A cloud of cold air hid Yi Jeong's face for a second. But there was no mistaking the timber of his voice. Yi Jeong smiled crookedly at her and rocked forward. The air froze around them for the short second that he hungrily drank her in. Her nose was bright pink, her ears tipped a solid dark rose, and she looked delightfully mad to see him. He hadn't felt this happy in weeks.

"What are you doing here?" She blurted out and immediately fixed her gaze somewhere near Yi Jeong's head. No one would call it eye contact.

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Are you here to make fun of these people?" She suddenly demanded. "Just because they don't have the luxury of a studio or hours of time on their hands doesn't mean that the work they do isn't important."

Yi Jeong rolled his shoulders, and hopped up and down to return the blood to his feet. He wore thin sneakers and thought about the pair of snug boots he left in his apartment. Ga Eul was like a porcupine, splinters armed and positioned, so he leaned in with his most charming smile.

"Ga Eul, I didn't come for a lecture on the workers of Korea." He suppressed a grin when he saw her wince. "Believe it or not, I thought that I could get some ideas from this market."

"Really."

"Yeah, I've been in a slump recently." He looked down at the jar shaped like a gourd and missed Ga Eul's immediate concern. "Something isn't right with me. Usually, the work comes so naturally to me." By the time he turned back to Ga Eul's face, she changed her expression to be as bland as white rice.

"You have a potter's block."

Yi Jeong laughed and felt the cold air draw deep into his lungs. It had been the first time in hours that something felt light enough to laugh about. Something extraordinary happened though. Ga Eul joined in and soon they were both bent at the waist, laughing at the dumbest joke in the world.

"Ga Eul, who is your friend?" Shin-Hye tapped her daughter on the elbow.

"Oh sorry mother!" Ga Eul blanched. "This is So Yi Jeong, a friend of Jian Di's from Shinhwa."

Yi Jeong frowned at the distant designation that Ga Eul gave him.

"Mrs. Chae," he bowed. "While it is true that I knew Jian Di first, I also consider myself to be friends with Ga Eul." He grinned when he saw Ga Eul narrow her eyes.

Shin-Hye bowed back and couldn't suppress her smile at the young man's charm. She had never seen a boy so handsome before. His shoulders spread broad in his leather jacket and with the long hair, which Shin-Hye did not care for, this Yi Jeong looked like a modern day sageuk hero. She noticed that while Ga Eul was normally effusive about her friends, her daughter was strangely silent on the subject of Yi Jeong.

"So Yi Jeong." Shin-Hye spelled out the name. "Ga Eul has talked about you before."

"No, that was another So Yi Jeong." Ga Eul cut in.

"Really? It's not a very common name, dear daughter."

Yi Jeong saw the slow blush creeping up Ga Eul's neck and decided for this night only, he would let her off the hook.

"Mrs. Chae," he cranked up the dimple in his right cheek, "Have you eaten? I saw a little food shop around the corner and we can get out of the cold for a while."

"What a good idea, Yi Jeong!" Shin-Hye smiled, "That is Ga Eul's favorite snack shop!"

Inside the little steamy shop, Yi Jeong felt like a cheshire cat. He hurried around the little plastic table and pulled out the chairs for both Chae women and leaned in close to Ga Eul as she sat down. Shin-Hye chatted away about her errands of the day and Yi Jeong was free to look at Ga Eul as she pretended to concentrate on the little chalkboard of today's specials.

"Ga Eul," his voice bright, "what is your favorite dish here?"

"Not porridge," which prompted a laugh from both Yi Jeong and Shin-Hye. Ga Eul felt her body relax a little. After all, her mother was here. Nothing could really happen with Yi Jeong that would make her feel awkward. The little shop's owner waited patiently by their table.

"I think," She looked at the tower of bamboo steamers, great chimney stacks of hot air escaped the open lids. The aroma filled the shop and Ga Eul heard her stomach, "Definitely jokbal."

"You want to eat pigs feet?" This did not match Yi Joeng's impression of a delicate Ga Eul. She nodded adamantly.

"And two bottles of soju." Shin-Hye smirked at her daughter's face. "You ordered the pig's feet and you can't eat jokbal without soju. Besides, you're driving back."

When the food arrived, Ga Eul smiled to herself as Yi Jeong poked gingerly at the plate of glistening pork feet. She quickly wrapped an ample slices in crisp lettuce and handed it to him. In the dim light of the restaurant, Yi Jeong didn't miss the challenging glint in her eyes. She was testing him.

Before a beat passed, he place the entire bundle into his mouth and chewed, his eyes never leaving hers in their game of silent chicken. When he didn't have too much time to intellectualize the food, he realized that jokbal was actually delicious. The rich fatty meat had sugar and soy in balance, the crisp lettuce leaves and condiments help cut the rich flavor to definition. The more he chewed, the more he marveled at how simple, but incredibly fulfilling this kind of food was. He smiled through a mouthful of jokbal, with true enjoyment, and Ga Eul laughed at his expression and quickly made him another jokbal wrap. Her mother, Shin-Hye, had managed to push a whole pile of bindaebyeong onto his plate when he wasn't looking_. _She shushed him when he nodded a quick thank you.

"Yi Jeong, I know it's the style for young men to be skinny, but I think with your frame, you could gain a few pounds." Shin-Hye gazed at him warmly. "Isn't the jokbal here good? I think it's a family recipe because I don't think it tastes like this anywhere else in Seoul. That's why Ga Eul likes this place. Girls like to eat jokbal because all the collagen keeps their skin pretty."

"Ga Eul doesn't need it." Yi Jeong grinned back at Shin-Hye.

"Aigoo," Shin-Hye fake swatted him, "This sweet mouth is going to get you into so many problems with women. How many girlfriends do you have?"

Yi Jeong poured Shin-Hye another glass of soju, his wrist tipped perfectly, and Shin-Hye sipped and thanked him.

"Well Omoni," he smiled lopsided at Ga Eul's mother, "I haven't had a girlfriend for a long time. I want to find one woman. Just the one that's right for me."

Ga Eul silently pick up another piece of lettuce and concentrated on her jokbal wrap like it was a complicated puzzle. Yi Jeong hesitated, but he knew that he would regret it if he didn't take this opportunity to pick Shin-Hye's brain about her daughter.

"I have this friend I'm interested in."

"Well, that's good." Shin-Hye felt the warmth of the soju spreading. "All great love starts with friendship."

"Was that what happened with you and Ga Eul's father?"

Shin-Hye looked at Ga Eul, tracing an elaborate pattern with her soy sauce on her empty plate. Her daughter seemed lost in thought and looked like she wasn't paying any attention to her conversation with Yi Jeong.

"Ga Eul's father is a writer."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"He's a writer at heart. It's very difficult to make a living as a writer and support a family, which is why he also works for the Shinhwa group."

"I guess not everyone can be an artist." Yi Jeong echoed Ga Eul's words from months earlier. He glanced at Ga Eul, her mouth held in a stiff line. She caught his glance and didn't flinch back. Yi Jeong gestured with the bottle, and she gratefully took a glass from him.

"He was in my poetry class in college and he wrote a poem about love that completely floored me." Shin-Hye's eyes glazed with nostalgia and soju. "He talked about how easy it was to love an idea, but how difficult it was to love a real person."

"What do you mean?"

"Yi Jeong," Shin-Hye placed another pancake onto his plate. "you are young, but even you know that people fall in love with idea of love before they know a person."

"Do you think it happens very often?" Yi Jeong hesitated. "That you love an idea more than the person?"

"Yi Jeong, when you fall in love, you have to love everything about that person. Not just the parts that you like. Ideas are simple, but people, people are complicated."

"My mother said something like that to me once." Yi Jeong tapped his glass absently.

"How is your mother?" Ga Eul suddenly wanted to know.

"Uh." Yi Jeong felt thrown. Ga Eul didn't look mean, her eyes were soft and inquiring. He took a deep breath and felt Shin-Hye's eyes. "She's doing better. Thank you for asking."

"She must be proud to have a handsome son like you."

Yi Jeong suddenly laughed. "If there's one thing true about my mother, it's that she's proud."

Shin-Hye chuckled. "Mothers and sons. That's a special relationship. I always wished that Ga Eul had a brother so that I could have a little boy to brag about and to spoil. With a son like you, I'd be a hot air balloon."

"Mom!" Ga Eul tapped her glass disapprovingly. "He doesn't need a bigger head. I'm sorry if this is embarrassing, Yi Jeong."

"Ga Eul," Shin-Hye giggled, now fully flushed with soju, "If this is the same Yi Jeong that I remember you talking about during high school, I don't think I'm exaggerating at all. World famous artist right?"

"Omoni," Yi Joeng fought to keep the smile from his face. "I haven't had an exhibition in a long time since I've been studying in Sweden. I am an artist, but it remains to be seen if I'm really any good."

"Sweden, that's so funny. Did you know that Ga Eul met her boyfriend in Sweden?"

"Yes, I think I did know that."

"How strange. Not many Koreans go to Sweden, but both of you have been." Shin-Hye murmured to herself, trying to focus on her cell phone's clock which said that it was nearly midnight. She did not noticed the glance that Yi Jeong threw to Ga Eul, who sat in stubborn ignorance. He snuck a look, memorizing color, light, and graceful curves. Ga Eul slid over to Shin-Hye's side of the table.

"Mom," Ga Eul rubbed her hand, "Let's get the check. Remember I have an early morning meeting. Let's go before I get too sleepy."

"Ga Eul," Yi Jeong said after he returned with the bill, "Do you think you could give me a lift home? I took public transportation here."

"Of course." Ga Eul held out her hand, Shin-Hye accepted and leaned against her daughter. She shuddered.

"It's so cold outside Ga Eul."

"Ga Eul," Yi Jeong thought of a solution. "Where is your car? Let me drive it here and pick you and your mother up."

Ga Eul nodded gratefully, handing him the keys and quickly told him where the car was parked. When he arrived after a few minutes, Ga Eul opened the back door and Shin-Hye shuffled into sedan.

"We still need an onggi, little one."

"Yes Mom." Ga Eul walked around to the driver's side and raised her eyebrows when it looked like Yi Jeong wasn't about to get out of the seat.

"Ga Eul," Yi Jeong pleaded, "I haven't driven in months. Do you think you can allow me to drive you back?"

Ga Eul quirked the side of her mouth, she couldn't resist Yi Jeong when he was like a little kid asking for a favor.

"Araso."

After they turned onto the expressway towards Yi Jeong's house, Shin-Hye had fallen asleep within a matter of minutes. Yi Jeong looked at Ga Eul's profile, bathed in the yellow light of the highway. She seemed occupied and fiddled with the radio station until she found a song she liked. It was an old American song, but the Korean singer sang the torch song with an elegant reserve that made the music more haunting.

_Oh, when your heart's on fire/ You must realize/ Smoke gets in your eyes_

Yi Jeong bit his lip hard. He knew why Ga Eul had put on this song.

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who is reading and leaving such wonderfully detailed comments. I read them all and appreciate the input. Sorry, there's more mystery with chapter 12, I can only give you the title :)

**Chapter 12 – Three Time**


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